South African e-health startup BusyMed, which is improving access to pharmacies for communities around the country, has raised additional funding to speed its expansion plans.
Formed in 2018, BusyMed offers access to thousands of products offered by local independent pharmacies, which users can then have delivered to their homes, including prescription medication, in 60 minutes.
Its vision is to connect consumers directly to pharmacies via a digital platform, giving them access to online consultations, products, and medication purchases with fast home delivery. The platform allows pharmacists to access real-time stock information, and performance data on best-selling items, while also managing inventory more effectively.
Backed by VC firm LionPride back in 2020, BusyMed has now attracted a new round of investment from E4E Africa, an entrepreneur-centric VC fund led by experienced entrepreneurs, aligned mentors and investors.
The investment will enable BusyMed to increase its pharmacy base to around 300 by the end of the year. The investment also enables the team to double its back-office capacity and automate systems to ensure best service end-to-end.
“Raising capital in South Africa is not easy but the fact that we have been able to raise it on multiple occasions highlights the opportunity that the e-health market offers locally,” said Mpathi Jezile, BusyMed’s managing director.
He said the learnings from the response to COVID-19 were game-changing for the startup.
“Whether you had access to world-class private healthcare or you were navigating the public healthcare system, access to your medication was critical – we take a lot of pride in the fact that we have played a part in helping transform access to healthcare products and services,” Jezile said.
“Access to quality healthcare and medicine is one of the major challenges for emerging markets and we are happy to enable e-health innovator BusyMed to grow and be a key player in this ecosystem,” said Bastiaan Hochstenbach, co-founder and managing partner at E4E Africa. “E4E Africa focuses on backing scalable solutions for real-world problems, and BusyMed can be exactly that.”
