An interesting pattern has been witnessed in Africa regarding the nature of their e-health startups. Apparently, for a continent known for being a “mobile-first” the majority of these kind of startups do not leverage mobile phones.
According to the High Tech Health: Exploring the African E-health Startup Ecosystem Report 2017, released by Disrupt Africa, 115 e-health startups are currently operating in 20 countries across Africa. Only 44 per cent of these ventures counted are mobile-based. On a positive note, Africa’s e-health startups combined have raised investment in excess of US$19 million.
“Africa’s health sector faces enormous challenges. The need – and opportunity – for the continent’s innovative entrepreneurs to make a real impact in delivering quality healthcare to all has never been greater. And in researching this report, we have seen clearly that Africa’s entrepreneurs are not shirking this duty – the levels of innovation and commitment to improving health outcomes is extraordinary. We’re very pleased to be able to share our findings on this exciting sector today,” said Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder of Disrupt Africa.
“This is a timely piece of research, as more and more e-health ventures enter the market and investors take note. We all know that digital health startups are playing a pivotal role in increasing access to quality healthcare across Africa, but for the first time this report gives an oversight of what is happening, where, and the form innovation is taking in the health space,” said Tom Jackson, co-founder of Disrupt Africa.
The report breaks down the e-health space into eight key sub-sectors across a variety of African tech ecosystems, as well as funding trends; and the details of health-focused accelerators and competitions for startups. The full list of 115 African e-health startups is also being made available.