Kenyan e-health start-up Access Afya has raised $90,000 (Ksh9.54 million) from MIT Solve as part of a $900,000 (Ksh94.5 million) bridge financing round.
Access Afya is an affordable health care company fully based in Nairobi operating primary healthcare clinics, retail pharmacies, mobile health, and Access Afya analytics. In addition, Akiba ya Roho program utilizes trained community members to conduct mass non-communicable disease screenings in slums with an intuitive mobile app. The app guides users through a series of simple health questions, and community members take basic measurements like blood sugar and pressure.
Interestingly, mobile health pushes classic clinical care into factories, schools, and other places where patients spend their time. The retail pharmacies create a safe first entry point into the health system with a qualified staff, genuine medication, and sound health advice.
Access Afya raised $1 million in seed funding in July 2018. The funding from MIT Solve will enable Access Afya to expand to 55 locations by the end of 2020 and serve 1 million Kenyans by 2021.
The MIT Solve venture fund launched in 2015 and identifies tech-based social entrepreneurs through open innovation challenges and assists in driving the goals and objectives. The fund uses debt, equity, and alternative structures to invest in qualifying entrepreneurs. The 2020 Global Challenges offer over $1.7 million (Ksh108.2M) in funding.
Successful start-up pitch gets backed with amounts ranging from $75,000 (Ksh7.95M) to $250,000 (Ksh26.5M).
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