i3 is a new model for healthtech scale in partnership with industry and philanthropy partners  — and it's working.  

i3 is a new model for healthtech scale in partnership with industry and philanthropy partners  — and it's working. 

Africa is home to a wealth of healthtech innovators. What the ecosystem lacks is a bridge — between promising startups and the partners who can take them to sustained scale.  i3, a value creation network, was purpose-built to close that gap as a deal-facilitation engine for startups tackling critical problems. Over the past 12 months, i3 supported 7 growth-stage companies building the future of pharmacy-based care on the continent. Early results are proving the model works: 

i3 creates partnerships neither party could originate alone. In 2025, i3 facilitated 230+ introductions to potential partners. For example, through these introductions, MYDAWA, an East African online pharmacy, is now in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim to expand access to NCD medication and with MSD to strengthen efforts toward cervical cancer elimination. 

i3 equips innovators with expertise and cutting-edge technology to close partnerships and advance impact. i3's global network is a source of critical expertise; for example government relations support helped Sproxil sign with Nigeria’s National Malaria Elimination Program to track 170M+ diagnostic tests and 200M+ treatments via AI; and Dawa Mkononi received mentorship and credit advisory from a SwipeRx, a leading Asian innovator, enabling the closure of a bank partnership to finance medicines for 20K+ pharmacies and accredited drug shops. i3 also connects innovators to cutting-edge tools, and recently facilitated connections with a novel, low-cost FDA-cleared telehealth device which would drastically expand the suite of clinical exams innovators could offer at the last mile. 

i3 funding removed specific obstacles blocking commercial partnerships. With up to $225K per company, i3 funding addresses barriers standing between startups and partners such as issues with technology maturity, credit, financing, government relations, market access, and market intelligence. In the past 12 months, support has generated a pipeline of 23 partnerships under development, with 8 partnerships already secured worth ~$5.5M. Closed partnerships are between startups and governments, banks, telcos, and pharma companies.  

While partnerships will drive increasing scale, innovators are already impacting access and distribution across multiple markets and changing the global narrative on tech-enabled care. In 2025, the innovators already report serving 6M patients (>1M monthly) including nearly 400K malaria and >300K MNCH patients. They also tracked 200M+ products (>30M monthly). Alarmingly, their unique data revealed 1 in 20 verified products was counterfeit, nearly 70% of them malaria medicines. In 2025, i3 amplified this impact through >200 media hits, and by placing innovators at global events like the UN General Assembly and World Health Summit.  

i3 also surfaced ecosystem barriers: Though interest is growing, major healthcare organizations still struggle to purchase efficiently from startups, VCs and DFIs cannot scale healthtech alone and a gap in infrastructural financing exists, working capital is limited, and fragmented registration mechanisms and supply chain barriers continue to slow pharmaceutical partnerships and hinder new product introduction. i3 is positioned to advocate on these issues in ways individual companies cannot, but courageous leadership and collaboration is needed to continue to build progress.  

We're just getting started — stay tuned for the next 18 months of learning and impact. Access the full impact report here. 

Data covers August 2025 – January 2026. Source: i3 Progress Report, April 2026