Kasha, a Rwandan health startup has secured a $21 million Series B investment, which highlights the growing importance of healthcare solutions for Africa’s youthful population.
The recent funding was led by Knife Capital, with participation from other investors.
With this new funding, Kasha plans to expand its platform further into South Africa and West Africa.
According to reports by TechCrunch, “The investors see Kasha as a high-growth, capital-efficient business that is dedicated to serving the mass market segment, particularly women customers in Africa.”
While the pandemic brought attention to Africa’s private healthcare sector, women’s health, particularly focusing on menstrual and reproductive health, has often been overlooked, reports state.
Unlike the typical women’s health startups, Kasha which was founded in 2016 by Joanna Bichsel operates as a digital retail platform catering to a diverse range of customers while emphasizing women’s health needs.
The platform offers a last-mile distribution service for pharmaceuticals and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) with a specific focus on women’s healthcare products and household items.
Kasha serves individual consumers, small resellers, hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics, providing products like sanitary pads, contraceptives, diapers, and cleaning supplies through its website or USSD.
Initially, Kasha adopted a direct-to-consumer model, focusing on providing last-mile delivery of health products for women and newborns in Rwanda.
“However, the platform soon expanded into wholesale after obtaining the necessary pharmaceutical license, serving pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics.
Their product range includes items related to newborn child health, maternal health, menstrual hygiene, family planning, sexual and reproductive health, as well as non-communicable diseases.
Ms Bichsel who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kasha explained that Kasha’s broad product offerings were intentional to cater to stigmatized health products for women.
The platform’s most popular products include HIV self-tests, contraceptives and pregnancy tests.
Over time, Kasha has expanded its range based on customer demand and needs from various customer segments.
Kasha’s success has been acknowledged through funding rounds, with previous seed funding of $1.5 million and a Series A investment of $3.6 million.
Despite being initially perceived as a social impact business, Kasha has experienced significant growth, with annual recurring revenue increasing by 50x since its Series A funding.
“The company aims to continue its rapid revenue growth, expand across Africa, and become a global company, potentially going public in the future.”
