Newly launched impact venture capital firm Beyond Capital Ventures has announced its first investment in Viebeg Technologies.
Based in Rwanda, Viebeg is a health tech company that provides high-quality medical supplies and equipment throughout Central and East Africa through an innovative data-driven procurement platform.
Beyond Capital Ventures joins its co-investment partners Beyond Capital Fund and Eckenstein Geigy Stiftung in Viebeg’s pre-seed funding round. Beyond Capital Ventures General Partner Eva Yazhari will join Viebeg’s Board of Directors.
Viebeg Technologies was founded in 2018 by Chief Executive Officer Tobias Reiter, who has prior experience building AI-driven platforms, and Chief Commercial Officer Alex Musyoka, who has sales and operations experience through senior roles at medical supply companies including Crown Healthcare, East Africa’s largest player.
“As AI enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, Alex and I became aware of the shortage of quality in-time medical supply in Africa and its consequences, namely millions of casualties per year,” said Reiter. “Seeing the immense potential of technology in solving this tragic problem, our company was born.”
Shortages and unaffordability of medical equipment and supplies are persistent causes of exclusionary and poor-quality care in low-income Africa, resulting in thousands of preventable deaths per year. Viebeg’s data-driven logistics platform — encompassing shipping, warehousing, last-mile distribution, and inventory management — empowers healthcare facilities to better manage procurement, ensuring that they have the right type and quantities of medical supplies in stock to properly treat patients.
By connecting healthcare providers directly with manufacturers — and thereby removing brokers and middlemen from the value chain — Viebeg can generate average cost savings of 40 percent for its customers.
The Company’s combination of flexible financing and on-demand delivery also provide superior accessibility and convenience, enabling it to cater to resource-constrained hospitals and clinics that were previously priced out of the market. Crucially, Viebeg also uses customer data to predict near-term demand for medical supplies and optimize its own procurement processes.
“We are excited to partner with Tobias and Alex and are impressed by their deep commitment to improving the quality of healthcare for underserved populations,” said Eva Yazhari, Beyond Capital Ventures General Partner.
“The Viebeg team has demonstrated resilience, agility, and the ability to successfully execute in challenging market conditions. I could not think of a better example of the type of company Beyond Capital Ventures will invest in.”
Viebeg has already established a commercial presence in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, serving 410+ customers since the company’s launch. Viebeg is targeting an underserved $4B+ market in East and Central Africa, with the Covid-19 pandemic augmenting the need to strengthen medical supply chains across the region and bolstering demand for essential supplies.
