i3 Calls for Applicants to 3rd Cohort for Program Enabling African Healthtech Innovators to Commercialise & Scale Offerings

UPDATE, January 28, 2025. On Jan 25th, the US government issued a ‘stop work’ directive for US aid, intensifying the need for locally-driven, market-creating approaches to health product distribution and service delivery across Africa. In response, i3 has taken the decision to prioritize immediate support for 5-7 growth-stage companies building the Future of Pharmacy care in Africa, increasing efforts to help these innovative companies rapidly expand access to patient care. Thus, i3 is only selecting growth-stage companies focused on the Future of Pharmacy at this time. We aim to support to a set of early-stage companies at a later date. Please sign up for our newsletter to stay in touch.
January 27, 2025, Lagos, Nigeria - Investing in Innovation Africa (i3), a pan-African initiative to support African healthtech startups to commercialise and scale their offerings, is calling for leading innovators to join its 3rd cohort. Funded by the Gates Foundation, MSD, Cencora, Endless Foundation, HELP Logistics–a subsidiary of the Kühne Foundation, Sanofi’s Global Health Unit and Chemonics, i3 will offer select startups 3 critical resources to prepare themselves for expansion: flexible grants, introductions to potential customers and tailored counsel to close partnership deals. i3 is selecting a total of 15 leading startups for this cohort: Early-stage startups will receive a $50K grant and growth-stage startups will receive a $225K grant to unlock major partnerships that can expand patient access across the continent. For startups in the cohort, i3 aims to facilitate at least 150 relationships with key healthcare organizations, worth at least $30M, which will expand patient access while creating valuable local jobs. Applications for the 3rd cohort are open now until February 28th. Apply here: innovationsinafrica.com/application. The selected startups will be announced on April 30th. In just two years since its launch, i3 has empowered 60 African health innovators across 16 countries, exceeding expectations with 43% women-led and 20% Francophone-led ventures. The program provided $3M in direct grants, facilitated 450 strategic connections, resulting in >$11M in contracted partnerships, expanded reach, and nearly 1,000 jobs created—half of which were held by women. Dr. Uchenna Igbokwe, CEO, SCIDaR “With the right resources, African-led companies can scale commercially while reaching underserved communities and creating jobs. The i3 program has been able to prove, in just two years, that an actively engaged network of leading global health institutions and partners can power African innovators to solve critical African problems in healthcare.” Oghenetega Iortim, CEO of Figorr, a company that provides end-to-end supply chain tracking technology and an i3 alumni, said, “We partnered with the Nigerian government to track over 200M health products. Through i3 we met with major global customers who were excited to find ways to expand Figorr’s impact both in Nigeria, and beyond. We’re grateful to i3 for opening these doors.” Applications for the 3rd cohort are open now until February 28. Apply here: innovationsinafrica.com/application. The selected startups will be announced on April 30th. A virtual Q&A session will be hosted by i3 on February 21st to answer any questions regarding the application process. i3 is coordinated by Salient Advisory and Solina Center for International Development and Research (SCIDaR).

Application Eligibility Criteria

UPDATE, Jan 28th.

On Jan 25th, the US government issued a ‘stop work’ directive for US aid, intensifying the need for locally-driven, market-creating approaches to health product distribution and service delivery across Africa.

In response, i3 has taken the decision to prioritize immediate support for 5-7 growth-stage companies building the Future of Pharmacy care in Africa, increasing efforts to help these innovative companies rapidly expand access to patient care.  

Thus, i3 is only selecting growth-stage companies focused on the Future of Pharmacy at this time. We aim to support to a set of early-stage companies at a later date. Please sign up for our newsletter to stay in touch.

Innovators must fulfill the criteria below to qualify for review in i3's 3rd cohort:

FOCUS ON AFRICA

  • Must have a strategic focus on meeting the needs of African customers in Africa.
  • Must be headquartered or have a legal presence in Africa.

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE OF PHARMACY CARE

  • Must offer advanced tech-enabled solutions aimed at improving pharmacy services. Innovators that develop novel health products or devices as a part of their delivery or distribution services are eligible. Excluded are innovators who are solely focused on research, education, and product or device development. The business does not need to be solely focused on health to be eligible.
  • Non-profits, consultancies, intermediaries and consortiums are not eligible.

BE AT THE GROWTH STAGE, SEEKING HEALTHCARE PARTNERSHIPS

Nascent/idea stage companies are not eligible. Mature companies (incumbents) are not eligible. To be considered “growth stage” innovators must meet at least 5 of the criteria below:

  • Products/ services in market at/near national scale in at least one country
  • Strong, well-defined revenue model, sales and operational capabilities
  • Decreasing customer acquisition costs
  • Proven customer and revenue diversification with aggregate annual revenues over $500K USD
  • Clear plan for businesses growth and sustainability
  • Clear plan for growth of healthcare offering
  • Needs in healthcare growth plan that correspond to i3’s offerings

IMPACT PATIENT ACCESS

The business does not need to be solely focused on health.

Innovators must demonstrate that grant funding will generate direct improvements in one or more of the following areas: availability, accessibility, quality, affordability or visibility of critical health products and services.