E-health startup Medsaf has been named winner of the Nigerian leg of the Seedstars World competition, earning the chance to pitch for US$500,000 in equity investment at the global final in Switzerland next year.
Seedstars World, which is hosting local events across Africa ahead of the global final, has already picked winners in Mozambique, Tunisia, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia, and held its Lagos event over the weekend.
Medsaf emerged the winner for its solution that is making the process of buying and selling medication in Nigeria’s complex health system more easy and efficient. Launched at the end of last year, the startup also provides value added services to hospitals and pharmacies such as medications, inventory management applications, credit facilities and tech-enabled logistics.
Since its launch, Medsaf has signed up over 200 hospitals and pharmacies, and seen a 300 per cent month-on-month average growth rate. Co-founder Vivian Nwakah told Disrupt Africa that winning Seedstars and gaining a place at the global final in Switzerland meant the world to the Medsaf team.
“Many people in the beginning told us that Medsaf wasn’t possible. We recently had an 80 year old hospital owner sign up and order from our platform completely inbound, online, and with no assistance from us. Medsaf is working,” she said.
“Seedstars is providing us the stage to tell our story to the rest of the world. With this exposure we can build a sustainable company that can scale to all the markets that need safe, quality, and cost effective medications.”
eWorker, an outsourcing platform that connects companies with talented and vetted developers in Africa, came second, and Edves, a startup which automates brick and mortar school operations, came third.
The other startups to pitch were DropQue, which won the public vote and will receive one free membership of Seedspace Lagos, as well as GetJama, irecycle, Parcel-it, Safi.ng, Wallet.ng and Wesabi.
