Lifestores, a Nigerian healthtech startup that brings disruptive innovation to the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria, has secured a $3 million pre-seed fund to expand its pharmaceutical marketplace across Nigeria.
The pre-series A funding round was led by Health54, the healthcare-focused corporate venture capital arm of CFAO Group that supports and invests in startups by offering innovative healthcare services and technologies, with Aruwa Capital Management as a supporting lead and participation from other existing investors. This new funding is coming after Lifestores raised a $1 million seed round in 2020.
Speaking on the recent seed raised, the Co-Founder of the Lifestores Bryan Mezie said, “The number of patients who have loyalty accounts with us is growing by double digits every month. And then we also think a lot about the scale of impact we have through the pharmacies we don’t own but support through our software.
“And then, we indirectly touch over 200,000 patients from our software and the services we offer to those pharmacies. As of today, those are the ways we think about our patient impact. We’re also on the verge of launching several B2C initiatives and some cool features that are more direct to the patient.”
He further disclosed that to expand the startup’s growth, it will launch a new processing centre in Lagos, and also launch new technology features as part of its B2B offerings, including pharmacy management software, AI-driven predictive ordering, advanced credit offerings, and patient management initiatives.
Also commenting on the seed raised is the pre-series A round leading investor Health54 which said, “We’re proud and happy to make our first investment with Health54 in Nigeria and in Life stores. We were impressed with Bryan and Andrew’s on-the-ground experience of having run multiple retail pharmacies in Nigeria,” said Côme Vercken, Managing Director, Health54, on the investment.
“In two years, they have built a first-rate distribution platform with OGApharmacy. As a strategic partner, we’re delighted to work together and bring the benefits of our vertically integrated pharmaceutical supply chain so we can support more patients in Nigeria and beyond with quality primary healthcare.”
With the commencement of its operations in 2017, Lifestores provides its services through a network of more than 750 outlets. The healthtech startup disclosed that it is experiencing a 25% monthly marketplace growth and counts more than 10% of Nigeria’s pharmacies as registered customers.
It also reveals its plans to expand its market share to 25%, which will increase the number of patients reached by 4x from 100,000 to 400,000 by 2023.