mPharma has closed a $35million round led by Tinder co-founder’s JAM fund, Bharti executive as it strives to grow its community (Mutti) pharmacies across eight markets in Africa to be the first point of care for patients, TechCrunch reports.
The startup’s Mutti pharmacies are essentially mini-hospitals offering a wide range of services including medical consultation, diagnostic and telehealth services. All these while increasing access and affordability to quality medication.
The startup has now set out to activate more Mutti pharmacies to widen its reach and to build out its tech infrastructure as it readies itself for the next phase of growth after raising $35 million in Series D round.
The new funding, mPharma co-founder and CEO Gregory Rockson told TechCrunch, will be used to build the startup’s data infrastructure, triple its talent pool over the next three years and support expansion plans in its current and new markets. It is also rolling out an e-commerce platform for pharmaceuticals.
“We are hiring over 100 engineers to build all our technology in-house and this includes a massive data infrastructure we are creating. We are also investing in other skilled talents like doctors and nurses, professionals that are critical in the work we do,”mPharma co-founder and CEO Gregory Rockson
“Bloom our pharmacy management software will allow us to build structured population health datasets that enable Mutti pharmacies to provide better care pathways to the community they serve,” he said.
The financing raised comprises $30 million in equity and $5 million in debt from CitiBank, bringing the total amount raised by mPharma to $65 million.
Investors that participated in the round include JAM Fund; a venture capital firm founded by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, Unbound; a growth investment firm by Shravin Mittal the managing director of Bharti Global limited (Bharti family investment arm) and the first investment in Africa for Lux Capital; a New-York City-based VC firm investing in science and tech ventures. Other investors include Northstar, Social Capital, Novastar and TO Ventures.
mPharma was originally founded in 2013 by Rockson, Daniel Shoukimas and James Finucane to manage prescription drug inventory for pharmacies and their suppliers, retail pharmacy operations and provide market intelligence to hospitals, pharmacies and patients.
