Shortage of medical workers, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and rising chronic diseases are fueling a boom in Kenya's HealthTech sector, transforming crisis into opportunity through digital innovation.
According to Tracxn, a market intelligence and data platform, Kenya currently has about 224 healthtech startups, increasing by approximately 85 ventures over the past five years.
These companies represent a range of Kenya's healthtech ecosystem, spanning e-pharmacies and diagnostics to insurance technology, health data analytics, hospital management systems, and community health platforms.
Of the 224 active healthtech startups, 27 have secured external funding, with four reaching Series A and beyond. Over the past decade, an average of 17 new healthtech companies have launched annually.
Sh11.2 billion venture capital
Collectively, Kenyan healthtech startups have so far raised about $87 million (Sh11.2 billion) across 38 venture deals.
In 2025, several new digital health ventures entered the landscape, joining MyDawa, Ilara Health, Turaco, and Goodlife Pharmacy, which have dominated the space for the better part of the last decade.
“Digital health is filling gaps that the physical system cannot close. That is why healthcare adoption is accelerating across all levels of care,” said Jeremy Kiptum, a Nairobi-based health systems expert.
Turaco Insurance, a micro-insurance provider in Africa, has insured over 3.5 million people across Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria by embedding insurance products into telco and digital lender platforms.
Meanwhile, Ohospital Cloud, a digital telehealth platform that allows patients to easily and quickly find doctors and follow up with them as needed, has secured $15 million (Sh1.9 billion) in funding and connected over one million users with over 200 healthcare facilities through its cloud-based telehealth platform.
Pilot projects turn essential infrastructure
This expansion represents one of the most significant transformations in East Africa's healthcare landscape, as digital health solutions have moved from experimental pilot projects to essential infrastructure supporting the country's journey toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
With the doctor-to-patient ratio still more than five times below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation, the workforce crisis is creating immediate opportunities for telemedicine platforms that extend scarce medical expertise.
A single specialist in Nairobi can now consult with patients across all 47 counties through digital platforms, effectively multiplying capacity.
Josef Murad, CEO and founder of BYON8, noted telemedicine can complement traditional healthcare facilities by safely meeting the needs of patients with various conditions and enable a wider reach of healthcare services through video chats or phone calls.
“It can be used for various medical services, including routine check-ups, mental health consultations, and specialist appointments,” said Mr Murad.
Similarly, AI-powered diagnostic tools deployed in rural clinics bring specialist-level analysis to communities that have never had such access, while electronic health records free healthcare workers from administrative burdens, allowing them to see more patients with greater efficiency.
Massive opportunities
Compounding the workforce challenge is Kenya's healthcare infrastructure deficit. Only seven percent of facilities are ready to provide basic outpatient services, and just two percent can offer all essential health services.
Level 4 hospitals face a deficit of 12,669 beds, while 147 hospitals had only 278 incubators against a required 1,360. Public hospitals have only 779 ICU and HDU beds—just 34 percent of the 2,304 critical beds needed nationwide. Sixty-nine percent of hospitals lack any electronic healthcare information system.
This infrastructure gap creates massive opportunities for healthtech startups offering innovative workarounds. For instance, Ilara Health, before its recent restructuring, partnered with over 3,000 local clinics, distributing AI-powered diagnostic devices that brought sophisticated testing to facilities that could not afford traditional equipment. Its cloud-based hospital management systems allow smaller facilities to operate with major hospital efficiency without massive IT investments.
Meanwhile, the Digital Health Superhighway, now over 70 percent complete, enables real-time data exchange across facilities nationwide.
Beyond infrastructure, the changing nature of diseases is speeding up startup innovation. Non-communicable diseases now account for over 50 percent of inpatient hospital admissions and 40 percent of hospital deaths in Kenya. Approximately 3.3 percent of Kenyans live with diabetes, while hypertension affects roughly 26 percent of the adult population.
Unlike infectious diseases requiring episodic care, chronic conditions demand continuous management over years or decades, including regular monitoring, medication adherence support, and early intervention when complications arise.
Yet, traditional healthcare delivery models, designed around episodic acute care, struggle with this reality.
Public hospitals often struggle to track chronic patients over time. When diabetic patients miss appointments, there’s typically no follow-up. Rural patients must choose between travelling long distances for medication refills or risking missed doses. Digital health solutions address these issues with remote monitoring, medication reminders, telemedicine check-ins, and home delivery of medications.
Similarly, startups like MyDawa have chronic care programmes that target diabetes and hypertension, serving thousands of patients, while combining e-pharmacy services with teleconsultations and monitoring.
By 2024, MyDawa recorded over 30 percent year-on-year revenue growth while serving 1.8 million patients across Kenya and Uganda.
"The calibre of investors joining this round speaks for itself," said Neil O'Leary, founder of MyDawa. "This investment confirms that MyDawa is doing more than addressing real problems at scale—it's laying the foundation for the future of healthcare in Africa."
In December 2025, Investing in Innovation Africa announced agreements, including a partnership between MSD, a global biomedical company, and MyDawa, focusing on cervical cancer elimination.
"Leading healthtech startups are an increasingly powerful force across Africa," noted Dr Okey Okuzu, CEO of Investing in Innovation Africa. "These innovators are linked with strategic partners across industry, government, donors, and global health agencies, enabling them to better scale their solutions."
Plugging fraud loopholes
Adding to these pressures, financial challenges create their own powerful rhythm, driving technological adoption. Under the previous National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), insurers estimated that nearly 30 percent of claims submitted annually were fictitious.
About 40 percent of hospitals accredited for the NHIF scheme were involved in fraudulent activities. The government revealed losses of at least Sh20 billion, though actual losses likely exceeded this figure.
The transition to the Social Health Authority (SHA) in 2024 demonstrated technology's potential. In 2025, the government revealed it had rejected Sh10.6 billion in fraudulent claims using digital systems powered by advanced analytics. Biometric patient verification has been reintroduced at major hospitals.
"Each person will have their own record. You'll place your fingerprint, and we'll know exactly who you are," President William Ruto explained. "There will be no more cases of impersonation or people collecting money dishonestly."
The government has suspended 40 health facilities and withdrawn system access for 12 healthcare professionals linked to fraud.
Automate claims processing
As a result, hospitals are increasingly adopting technology solutions to automate claims processing, eliminate fraud, and improve turnaround times.
For healthtech companies specialising in insurance technology and fraud detection, the market opportunity is huge as both government and private insurers recognise that technology is essential for financial sustainability.
Persistent drug stockouts add another driver. Public hospitals and health centers frequently run out of essential medications, forcing patients to purchase drugs from private pharmacies at higher costs or go without treatment. Stockouts result from fragmented supply chains, poor inventory management, inadequate forecasting, and coordination failures between procurement systems and clinical demand.
Reliable supply chains
E-pharmacy platforms like MyDawa have built reliable medication supply chains that ensure drug availability and offer home delivery, effectively creating parallel infrastructure where government systems fail.
Hospital inventory management systems help facilities track medication stock levels in real-time, automate reordering, reduce waste from expired medications, and optimise purchasing. For county health departments managing hundreds of facilities, such systems provide previously impossible visibility into supply chain performance.
Equally driving this transformation is the government's commitment to digital health, which seeks to digitise services.
The Kenya Digital Health Act, proposed in 2025, establishes the legal foundation for a fully integrated digital health system. The legislation creates a Digital Health Agency and mandates interoperable health information systems across public and private facilities.
Digitising health records
Central to the government's vision is the National Unique Patient Identifier rollout, funded through a Sh5 billion allocation. The UPI aims to link medical records across facilities from birth, creating a comprehensive health profile for every Kenyan.
"Digital health isn't a future-day necessity," noted former Cabinet Secretary for Health Dr Deborah Barasa at the Global Digital Health Forum 2024 in Nairobi. "The establishment of the Digital Health Agency and the development of a Comprehensive and Integrated Health Information System are enabling us to digitise health records, improve data sharing, and empower patients to take charge of their healthcare journey."
The rollout of the electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS) to all 47 counties, now used by 95 percent of the country's over 100,000 community health promoters, demonstrates that government digital health initiatives can achieve impressive scale when properly resourced.
Healthtech accounted for just five percent of Africa's total venture funding in early 2025, down from an average of eight percent between 2020 and 2023.
