Healthtracka, is a Nigerian digital health platform startup. It offers at-home health tests with easy-to-read diagnostics test results. Healthtracka also recently raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding.
In a recent statement released by Healthtracka, this round of funding is led by Africa-focused early-stage Venture capital Ingressive Capital. U.S based venture fund Hustle Fund, Alunmi Angels Alliance and Flying Doctors also make up its funding list.
Healthtracka was founded in May 2021 by Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson and Victor Amusan. The startup was able to raise the seed fund after they participated in the Techstars Toronto accelerator program between October 2021 and January 2022.
Healthtracka’s Goal
Speaking on the objectives behind the startup, Ifeoluwa Dare Johnson reiterated that Healthtracka was built based on the gaps that exist in telemedicine. Most people are required to visit the hospital and labs for tests. This tradition constitutes up to 70% of all clinical decision-making. However, individuals are either not aware of minor health issues they have. More often than not, they do not time to visit medical centres.
Following her dad’s death about four years ago, Ifeoluwa began to look closely into simplifying diagnostics.
“We live in Africa, where healthcare infrastructure is poor. So you would think that would make people more conscious about their health, knowing nobody will save them. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”
“These were some of the problems that I saw. I clearly wondered at how we could get healthcare to that level where you can be at home and access it seamlessly,” she said. “We thought that could be a game-changer to how healthcare delivery can be improved in Africa. Somebody needed to come into that space to think about how to solve these operational challenges. They also need to build the logistics, technology and the infrastructure to support the idea of at-home lab testing”, she said.
How Healthtracka Operates
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As a scientist who studied biochemistry, Ifeoluwa built Healthtracka to allow users to book tests on its website. Users can also have their samples collected at home. Their results are also emailed within 48 hours. The tests range from fertility and STD tests to full body count and COVID tests.
Healthtracka partners with 3 medical laboratories at the moment: vCare Diagnostics, Lancet Laboratories, and Afriglobal Medicare. This company provides them with phlebotomists to visit patients’ houses to collect samples. They also analyse the samples and return results within 48 hours.
According to Ifeoluwa, Healthtracka’s network of phlebotomists has increased 20x since its launch to over 100. The company has been able to deliver close to 7,000 tests at home. This has resulted in a 30% increase in revenue.
Healthtracka currently has 50 different medical tests, which it has offered to users at home. It has done this, using a network of 700 phlebotomists. These phlebotomists are located across 7 Nigerian cities; Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Benin, Kaduna, Ilorin, and Ibadan.
Speaking on the company’s long-term growth strategy, Healthtracka is looking to first launch subscription plans for its retail customers. It also intends to offer APIs for telehealth service providers, hospitals and pharmacies. This will help them provide at-home blood testing for their patients. Finally, the company intends to extend its presence beyond seven Nigerian cities to Kenya and Ghana before the end of the year.
“We have realised, especially in the countries we are expanding to, that the infrastructure deficit problem is the same. Our experience in offering diagnostics in Nigeria gives us confidence that we can tackle this problem in other markets as well, she said.
In Other News,
Ghanaian fintech startup, Fido Solutions is set to place the Ghanaian fintech industry on the world map. It recently acquired a $30 million funding and also an undisclosed debt funding, totaling a whooping $38 million. With this, it seeks to expand its fintech solutions across Africa.
What this means is that it is set to also extend its loans to other African countries, particularly Uganda, its new market. What a great win for the African tech ecosystem.
