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CarePay eyes regional expansion with Sh5.1bn funding

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CarePay says it connects health players including insurers, users, and providers on a single mobile platform. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Amsterdam and Nairobi-based CarePay International, a mobile health payments platform, has raised €40 million (about Sh5.1 billion) in a Series A financing round for regional expansion.

Launched in 2016, CarePay International digitally says it connects health players including insurers, users, and providers on a single mobile platform, so that they can communicate and make transactions in real-time.

Already active in Kenya and Nigeria, the firm said the new capital will be used to expand the company’s mobile health payments platform in Nigeria and into Tanzania.

CarePay International works with private and public health players, connecting millions of people to its platform that are currently excluded from quality healthcare services in Africa.

“The mobile phone allows you to reach everyone at almost no extra cost, this creates unprecedented opportunities for health insurance schemes,” said CarePay International chief executive Onno Schellekens.

Dutch private equity funds IFHA-II and impact investor ELMA Investments, as well as the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs that invested through the PharmAccess Group participated in the capital raising.

“Universal health coverage in Africa will only be possible if governments and their citizens can provide and access health services from both the public and private sectors through seamless and efficient mechanisms,

CarePay brings that ambitious vision within the realm of possibility,” said Tom McPartland, a board member of ELMA Investments.

“The current health insurance model excludes huge parts of the African population as the administrative costs are too high, there is not enough data and outpatient costs cannot be controlled,” added Max Coppoolse, IFHA-II’s managing partner.