Digital Horizon venture fund has invested in Y Combinator alumnus Healthlane, the startup focusing on modern, online consultations for local and remote patients, alongside traditional face-to-face public health services - across Africa. Sequoia Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, TSVC, Supernode Ventures, CRE Africa and Capitoria, as well as several early investors in Ping An Good Doctor, also participated in the round. The total amount of the round was $2.4 million.
The Healthlane example shows how new technologies can improve the quality of healthcare services without creating new infrastructure. Today, most of the health care services in Africa are provided in public hospitals and clinics. Services are paid, and the waiting time for a doctor's appointment reaches five or more hours.
Healthlane is creating a platform that allows you to book and pay for a doctor's appointment at a public clinic through an app, and be received immediately upon arrival, saving so much valuable time. Now more than 30 medical institutions in Nigeria and Cameroon co-operate with the company, and the number of clients in the first half of the year exceeded 60,000 people.
In the future, additional services, such as calling a doctor at home, gaining access to test results and prescriptions, telemedicine, and ordering medicines with delivery will also become available.
Alan Vaksman, founder and managing partner of Digital Horizon:
“Unlike many startups that rely only on telemedicine, Healthlane's solution combines remote and face-to-face health services. Furthermore, the service’s customers become not only users, but also doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other market participants. In the future, this all-in-one approach will enable the company to expand the list of services by adding, for example, insurance products. In this, the company's model is similar to the Chinese platform Ping An Good Doctor, whose audience over several years of operation amounted to 315 million people, with its capitalization on the stock exchange growing to $15 billion. I am confident that Africa needs such projects, so we will continue to monitor the development of the local digital healthcare sector and will keep looking for exciting opportunities".
About the company
Digital Horizon is an international investment company that combines a venture fund and a venture builder. The Digital Horizon venture fund invests in early-stage start-ups that have working products and promising solutions for the financial industry, e-commerce, education and enterprise software. The venture builder creates breakthrough projects in finance, retail, marketing, and media. Digital Horizon’s team possesses unique expertise in its target industries and extensive network with strategic partners, funds and developers.
