MDaaS Global, a Lagos-based health tech company has raised $2.3 million in seed extension to enable it to secure the largest share of the diagnostic market in Nigeria as well as push its presence in new cities across the country.
Silicon Valley-based South African entrepreneur Vinny Lingham’s venture capital firm, Newtown Partners led the funding round via the Imperial Venture Fund. Launched in March 2020, the Fund is a collaboration between Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Imperial and Newtown Partners. The Imperial Venture Fund has an initial capitalisation of $20 million and seeks to invest in startups in the logistics industry.
Other participants in the MDaaS raise include CRI Foundation, FINCA Ventures, Techstars, and Future Africa, among others. Some of the investors, like Future Africa, FINCA Ventures, and Techstars were involved in the previous $1 million funding round in the company.
MDaaS in a statement said the funding will enable the launching of a new service ‘SentinelX’, a digital health membership that champions preventive, personalised, and continuous care using proprietary technology. The company has now raised a total of $3.7 million in funding to date.
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Founded in 2017, MDaaS – an abbreviation of Medical Devices as a Service – said it has focused on increasing access to critical diagnostic services for underserved and geographically challenged communities.
“Unrestricted access to quality healthcare has always been our principal objective and the pandemic has compelled us to consider innovative ways of offering more proactive care,” Oluwasoga Oni, CEO and co-founder of MDaaS Global said. “This additional funding will propel growth as we look to serve more people and in more ways.”
The new service, SentinelX is expected to democratise access to comprehensive preventive care that helps members identity and address health risks before they become problems. The service operates as an annual subscription-based membership starting at just N35,000 (about $7/month).
“SentinelX combines a human touch – which is still needed, with advanced technology to provide faster, easier healthcare solutions for Nigerians. But importantly, it makes preventive care more accessible and affordable. This will pave the way for lowering overall medical costs for patients as well as improving their health outcomes in the long run,” Oni said.
Over the past two decades, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also referred to as lifestyle diseases, have risen dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa, driven by a growing incidence of cardiovascular risk factors like unhealthy diets, reduced physical activity, hypertension, and diabetes. NCDs are projected to become the leading cause of mortality in Africa by 2030.
MDaaS said SentinelX is positioned to tackle the NCDs challenge by empowering members to take control of their long-term health. The platform, however, is in private beta and with a speedily growing waitlist. It is expected to launch publicly in September 2021.
“Most consumers in sub-Saharan Africa receive suboptimal medical care because of infrastructure gaps, low physician density, delays in diagnostics, and a lack of health data visibility. We think the physical diagnostic infrastructure that MDaaS is building out, coupled with the means to collect data and deliver value-added software services, has the potential to completely change the way that physicians, clinicians, and pharmacists do their jobs and lead to better health outcomes for a huge number of previously underserved consumers,” Llew Claasen, managing partner at Newtown Partners, said.
MDaaS Global has launched 7 centers in Ibadan, Ilorin, Osogbo, Lagos, and Abuja, with plans to expand to 6 new cities in 2021. To date, the healthcare company has provided diagnostic services to over 40,000 patients in underserved communities, and following its seed round in 2019, has grown its staff capacity to over 70. The company has also performed over 80,000 diagnostics tests across cardiology, radiology, neurology, laboratory, and general health checks. MDaaS has expanded its referral network to include over 750 clinicians and has partnered with over 500 health facilities and 10 HMO networks. By 2025, the company aims to operate 100 centers across the continent and serve 1 million patients per year.
Prospective members can register via the website to schedule their diagnostic screening which looks at more than 65 unique biomarkers to assess individual risk for a wide range of diseases, including cancers, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart diseases. Clinical and family history, as well as demographic data, are also taken into consideration as part of the comprehensive analysis. Screenings are carried out at MDaaS-owned facilities, expediting a cost-efficient medical process for patients and effectively allowing the company to manage the full lifecycle and health journey of its customers. Members receive monthly check-in calls from their dedicated Care Team to monitor progress, make adjustments to their Care Plans, and supply answers to questions that may arise – providing patients with a holistic and proactive approach to their healthcare.
