CarePay International, the Kenya based healthtech startup has completed a $45 million Series A funding round from investors that included Dutch private equity funds IFHA-II, impact investor ELMA Investments and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs that invested through the PharmAccess Group.
The startup allows people to save, insure and pay for healthcare services through a mobile-phone based wallet called ‘mHealth Wallet’.
CarePay International will use this funding to expand its mobile platform beyond Kenya. The company is in plans to launch its platform in new markets such as Tanzania and Nigeria.
“The mobile phone allows you to reach everyone at almost no extra cost, this creates unprecedented opportunities for health insurance schemes”, said Onno Schellekens, CEO of CarePay International.
Tom McPartland, a Board member of ELMA Investments, says that “Universal Health Coverage in Africa will only be possible if governments and their citizens can provide and access health services from both the public and private sectors through seamless and efficient mechanisms, CarePay brings that ambitious vision within the realm of possibility.”
Max Coppoolse, IFHA-II’s Managing Partner adds “The current health insurance model excludes huge parts of the African population as the administrative costs are too high, there is not enough data and outpatient costs cannot be controlled. CarePay’s mobile technology addresses all these elements and in addition, offers cross-sale opportunities and other significant growth prospects for insurers.”
Founded in 2015 in Kenya, the mobile health payments startup works in partnership with Safaricom, the operator of M-PESA. CarePay’s platform lets users efficiently communicate and transact through smart contracts. As of now, this platform has over 4 million people and 1,200 healthcare providers.
