Lifestores Healthcare, a Nigerian e-pharmacy platform wants to democratize access to primary healthcare by the digitization and aggregation of pharmacies. The platform is among the inaugural batch of alumni from the NINJA startup accelerator programme in Japan.
Lifestores was launched in 2017 and is developing a network of affiliated pharmacies to be beneficiaries of its proprietary PharmIQ pharmacy management platform to access loans, provide e-commerce service to patients and procure inventory. The company started operations as a retail pharmacy chain and manages minor pharmaceutical networks today, however, its main goal is the use of technology to supercharge the fragmented pharma retail space.
Co-founder& CEO of Lifestores, Bryan Mezue said “Pharmacies are the most visited space of the primary health sector; we have to back them to truly democratize access to health. The experience we have while running pharmacies gives us empathy on the best way to support the frontline.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in collaboration with Ventures Platform Foundation organized The NINJA (Next Innovation with Japan) startup programme to offer 8 selected African startups a business grant and 6 months of hands-on business development support, coaching, and mentoring.
Lifestores was one of the Nigerian companies selected for the 2021 batch where in March 2021, they presented their business plan to an audience that consists of thousands of Japanese investors and leaders.
Mezue said “The NINJA programme aided our traction. We grew our network of affiliated pharmacies in the midst of the pandemic by 4 times in the first half of 2021. Currently, we are providing support to 200 dispensaries in Nigeria. Now, we are expanding to cities outside Lagos and we were expanding to international markets. “
Lifestores has raised funding rounds which includes a post Seed extension earlier this year and a public Sees raise last year, and it currently finalizing Series A.
“COVID-19 has shown us all the criticality of the health sector. By building the core infrastructure of the sector, we want to help healthcare practitioners be at their best. With thousands of pharmacies and over 100,000 chemists in Nigeria alone, our work is just beginning.”
