Pre-Series A funding secured by Kenya’s TIBU Health to accelerate growth

To expand its solutions for chronic diseases and enhance its virtual care platform, Kenyan startup TIBU Health has secured an undisclosed sum in pre-Series A investment.

TIBU Health is an omnichannel digital firm that was founded in 2018 that provides health services wherever people live, work, and connect online. To give patients a seamless and well-coordinated end-to-end healthcare experience, the firm employs the newest, most cutting-edge technology in healthcare and logistics.

Direct-to-consumer healthcare service delivery at home was first the main focus. Patients and partners started to ask for virtual care as well as an in-person service to supplement the home-based service from which TIBU was derived over time. Since 2022, the venture has evolved into a business that connects the real and digital worlds to provide patients and its business partners with treatment through three key access points: the patient’s home, a virtual platform, and ultramodern clinics.

The pre-Series A fundraising round, which was headed by Health54, the CFAO Group’s healthcare-focused corporate venture capital arm, was 50% oversubscribed. The money will be used to strengthen its chronic illness treatments and upgrade its virtual care platform.

“We’re particularly excited to develop our chronic disease programme and address the alarming rise in the incidence of chronic disease in Africa. Proceeds of this round will be used to make some strategic investments in our virtual care platform and add a few ultra-modern wellness hubs to make healthcare even easier for Nairobians,” said Jason Carmichael, CEO of TIBU Health.

“It will also fuel the acceleration of our growth by expanding our corporate sales team to keep up with the rising demands from partners around various wellness programmes, including chronic conditions. People in Kenya will be seeing much more of us in the coming months,”

To assist its investees in ramping up, lead investor Health54 makes use of the largest healthcare network in Africa. Other collaborators include Google, Founders Factory Africa, and Boost VC, which is run by Adam Draper, a fourth-generation venture capitalist from Silicon Valley.

“After having played a key role during the COVID-19 period, Tibu Health managed to quickly adapt, build and launch one of the most efficient solutions enabling people to quickly access quality healthcare. As their new strategic partner, we are committed to contribute to make them a leading healthcare delivery solution in east Africa,” said Côme Vercken, managing director of Health54.

Since its founding as a solely B2C business, TIBU Health’s B2B offering has expanded gradually at a rate of 20% per month and is now playing a bigger part in the company’s trajectory. To enable the business to concentrate on this expanding consumer category, the money obtained through Health54’s investment will be crucial.

“We are extremely excited about the synergies that will be made from the partnership with Health54. Our interests are extremely aligned in using technology to address important access, quality, and chronic disease challenges we currently see in Africa. CFAO’s existing footprint across more than 40 economies in Africa, as well as its many partnerships and subsidiaries, will help us scale our model and amplify our impact,” said Carmichael.