Nigerian health tech startup, Healthtracka, has raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Hustle Fund and Ingressive Captial. Other participants in Healthtracka’s $1.5 million seed funding round include Flying Doctors and Alumni Angels Alliance
Co-founded by Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson and Victor Amusan, Healthtracka provides medical lab tests for Nigerians from the comfort of their homes. It works with lab partners such as vCare Diagnostics, Lancet Laboratories, and AFRIGLOBAL Medicare to analyse received samples and reverts results to users via mail within two days.
On a call with Techpoint Africa, Healthtracka’s Co-founder and CEO of Dare-Johnson said the startup’s mission is to decentralise access to healthcare, starting with medical diagnosis.
She believes booking lab tests and getting them in the comfort of your home could be the beginning of better healthcare outcomes in Africa, as early diagnosis plays a vital role in detecting and preventing life-threatening health challenges.
However, making health tests available in the comfort of people’s homes comes with challenges.
Since the startup launched in May 2021, one of the challenges it has battled is building trust with its users. Dare-Johnson recounted some people having doubts about Healthtracka showing up for the tests after making payments.
“Over time, we’ve built trust. People have come to recognise Healthtracka, and now they have the confidence to come to our platform to book their lab tests, knowing we will show up.”
Interestingly, users were not the only set of people whom the healthtech startup needed to build trust. According to the CEO, partners and stakeholders also needed convincing.
“We needed to make stakeholders believe that customers are going to come. Once our customers began to order and book tests, it was easier for stakeholders and partners to believe that we can create demand in this market.”
Healthtracka has delivered over 7,000 lab tests across seven Nigerian cities — Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Benin, Kaduna, Ilorin, and Ibadan.
In addition to building user trust, Healthtracka is investing in health education to grow its customers.
“If you ask 100 people when their last checkup test was, you’ll be lucky to find 20 who would say this year. The good news is that people are learning and seeing that you can manage your healthcare at home.”
The startup encourages health education through social media content and engaging communities in discussions about healthcare awareness.
Healthtracka’s $1.5 million seed funding will see it engage more communities outside Nigeria as it plans to expand into Ghana and Kenya in the next six months.
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