South African Telehealth Partnership Secures $3M Funding

The Rise of Telehealth in Sub-Saharan Africa: A New $3 Million Venture

Accessible primary healthcare is essential for the early detection and effective treatment of health issues. Optimal delivery of this care relies on collaborative teams of primary care clinicians working in coordination.

However, widespread access to such comprehensive care remains limited throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. This presents a significant challenge to improving health outcomes across the region.

Digital Platforms as a Solution

Digital healthcare platforms offer a viable pathway to expand access to team-based care. These platforms have the potential to lower the cost of quality healthcare, improve patient outcomes, and extend reach to underserved, remote populations.

Furthermore, they can alleviate strain on existing, traditional medical support systems, enhancing overall healthcare capacity.

A New South African Initiative

The recent global expansion of digital healthcare, accelerated by the pandemic, has also impacted Africa. A new telehealth platform, currently unnamed, is launching from South Africa with the goal of providing affordable, quality care to African patients.

The platform has recently secured $3 million in a pre-Series A funding round to support its launch and expansion efforts.

The Collaborative Force Behind the Venture

The unique aspect of this platform lies in its origins. It is the result of a collaboration between a venture capital firm, Webrock Ventures, and two established health tech companies, Healthforce.io and Doktor.se.

Understanding the Partners

• Webrock Ventures: This Sweden-based investment firm utilizes a venture-building model, partnering with Swedish tech companies and combining financial investment with business expertise to create new portfolio businesses, while retaining a substantial ownership stake.
• Healthforce: Based in South Africa, Healthforce focuses on enhancing healthcare delivery through multidisciplinary clinical teams. They have established a network of nurses in over 450 clinics, conducting over 1 million consultations. The company also offers a telemedicine service with more than 110,000 consultations completed since its launch.
• Doktor.se: A Swedish telehealth provider, Doktor.se enables patients to connect with healthcare professionals via their smartphones for a full range of primary care services. The company primarily serves customers in Europe and Latin America.

Strategic Rationale for the Partnership

The formation of this partnership aims to launch a telehealth product in South Africa, with plans for subsequent expansion into other African countries.

Investment in telehealth has seen a dramatic increase globally, rising by over 50% since the pandemic began. Africa is now attracting attention from investors and companies like Webrock and Doktor.se due to its rapidly growing economies and increasing demand for such services.

Doktor.se’s Commercialization Models

Doktor.se employs two distinct strategies for commercializing its telemedicine technology. The first involves directly providing healthcare services using its platform.

The second approach involves licensing its core technology to third parties in markets where Doktor.se does not intend to operate directly. This model proved successful with Brazilian health tech startup ViBe Saúde, achieving over 1.2 million patient consultations last year, and will be replicated through a licensing agreement with Healthforce across Africa.

Synergies and Opportunities

This new partnership creates a unique synergy. Healthforce can leverage Doktor.se’s technology to enter a new direct-to-patient market.

Webrock provides the investment and scaling expertise necessary to support the platform’s growth.

Targeting the Uninsured Market

The new venture will primarily focus on the uninsured, B2C segment, offering a freemium-type service. The platform will provide on-demand and scheduled consultations with nurses, general practitioners, and mental health professionals.

It will also incorporate chronic care management and integrate with Healthforce’s existing primary care services.

Leadership and Future Outlook

Saul Kornik, co-founder and CEO of Healthforce, will assume a leadership role in the newly formed company.

He believes the partnership will enhance Healthforce’s healthcare product offerings, while Doktor.se will benefit from new license fee revenue, and Webrock will gain an investment opportunity in a significant developing market.

“Webrock and Healthforce partnered to bring funding and strategic/operational capacity to this new pan-African direct-to-patient play, respectively,” Kornik stated. “All existing independent operations will continue. However, under the NewCo, Healthforce as a major shareholder will expand its primary care product stack and Doktor.se will generate revenue off license fees earned.”

Addressing a Significant Market Need

Sub-Saharan Africa represents a $90 billion healthcare market, but health insurance coverage remains low, with rates below 10% in most countries except South Africa (16%). The three partners aim to address this challenge and envision a more efficient and accessible healthcare system for Africa.

“This is a pure-play provider-of-healthcare venture. Through this pan-African venture, we will deliver high-quality healthcare at low cost to 75 million people through telemedicine, literally putting healthcare in the palm of their hands,” Kornik explained.

Joshin Raghubar of Webrock Ventures and Martin Lindman, co-founder and CEO of Doktor, are optimistic about the opportunities presented by Africa’s large population and increasing smartphone adoption.

This new venture, awaiting a formal name, stands as one of the few South African health tech platforms to secure seven-figure funding in a year largely dominated by fintech investments. Recent funding rounds include $8.3 million for hearX Group (expanding into the U.S.) and $1.1 million for Quro Medical (scaling in-home patient care). Further investment activity is anticipated before the end of the year.