Reliance Health, Lagos and Texas-based digital healthcare provider has raised $40 million in series B funding round to improve healthcare quality for patients in Nigeria and abroad.
The new round of funding led by General Atlantic is expected to accelerate the startup’s growth as it represents the first investment made by the US-based growth equity investor in Africa while other investors involved in the round include Partech, Picus Capital, Tencent Exploration, Africa Healthcare Master Fund, P1 Ventures, Laerdal Million Lives Fund and M3 Inc.
The funding also adds to the list of first-time investors leading growth rounds in the last two years, such as FTX, Avenir, SVB Capital and Fidelity.
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What they are saying about the funding
Femi, a co-founder and CEO said, “Our mission is super simplebut the execution is sometimes more difficult than that, So essentially what we’re trying to do is to use technology to make quality health care accessible and affordable in emerging markets.
“Essentially, what we try to do is to get guide people to the best option in terms of the care that can be received and regardless of whether that option is provided by a third-party partner or us, we are more concerned with how we work with the customer to guide them to the best option when it comes to accessing the healthcare data.”
He also noted that the startup plans to use a part of the funding to build two more clinic facilities in two Nigerian cities, Abuja and Port Harcourt adding that the Health platform also intends to hire talent and scale new product lines, especially for Nigerians in the diaspora.
Chris Caulkin, the Managing Director of General Atlantic and head of EMEA Technology, in a statement, said, “General Atlantic is thrilled to announce our first technology investment in Africa in Reliance Health, backing a team focused on improving healthcare quality for millions of patients in Nigeria and abroad. We have been consistently impressed by Femi and Ope, who exemplify the entrepreneurialism and innovation we see across the African continent.”
What you should know about Reliance Health
- The company was founded by Femi, Opeyemi Olumekun and Mathew Mayaki in 2016 and uses integrated process to provide health insurance and telemedicine through partnerships with hospitals and healthcare facilities.
- The startup had in January 2020 secured a $6 million Series A fund following a $2 million seed round months post YC in 2017 from investors like Partech, Y Combinator, Golden Palm Investments, Ventures Platform, Lofty Inc– and Tencent and Picus, who have participated in the three rounds totalling $48 million.
