Reliance Health raises $40 million in Series B round

Nigerian healthtech startup Reliance Health has successfully closed the largest Series B round in the African HealthTech industry to date.

The round was led by General Atlantic, a leading global equity investor with participation from Partech, Arvantis Social Foundation, Picus Capital, Tencent Exploration, P1 Ventures, Laerdal Million Lives Fund, M3 Inc., and AAIC (Asia Africa Investment and Consulting)

Before this funding, Reliance Health had raised a $6m Series A round in January 2020 which was led by Partech and with participation from Y Combinator, Ventures Platform, Golden Palm Investments, Picus Capital and  LoftyInc Capital.

This further demonstrates the influx of investments into Africa’s healthtech sector since Covid-19 happened. The pandemic ignited an increase in the launch and financing of health startups focusing on telemedicine, drug delivery and virtual care. It has been estimated that healthtech in Africa is expected to reach a revenue growth of 23.08% and a market value of over US$11 billion by 2025 serving 1.4 billion people.

The startup was launched in 2016 by Opeyemi Olumekun, Femi Kuti and Matthew Mayaki after they pivoted from Kangpe which they started with in 2015. Kangpe was a telemedicine focused startup.

Reliance Health uses an integrated process to provide health insurance and telemedicine through partnerships with hospitals and healthcare facilities. The startup is using technology to offer innovative solutions which make quality health care accessible and affordable in emerging markets.

Since its launch in 2016, Reliance Health has averaged 3.5x YOY revenue growth which makes it more attractive to investors. The startup runs a B2B and B2C business model. Some of the companies on its over 600 corporate client list include Beiersdorf Nivea, Jumia and PVC.

The funding will be used to build two more clinic facilities in Abuja and Port Harcourt, Nigeria. It will hire top talents, create new product lines (especially for Nigerians in diaspora) and expand into new African markets.

Speaking on the fundraise, Reliance Health CEO Femi Kuti said, “Healthcare in emerging markets is often overlooked by private initiatives because it’s an extremely complex challenge to solve. At Reliance Health, by leveraging innovations to break the constraints of legacy solutions, we believe there is an opportunity to solve some of these tough problems and even for aspects of healthcare in emerging markets to leapfrog to other parts of the world. We are excited to work with our investors towards bringing affordability and accessibility in healthcare to underserved markets, ultimately saving lives around the world.”

The round was General Atlantic’s first technology investment in Africa, and the Head of EMEA Technology and Managing Director, Chris Caulkin, while commenting about the raise 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. We look forward to sharing our experience as a leading global growth equity investor in support of Reliance Health's exciting and important mission.”