Clafiya, a Nigerian health-tech startup has today announced that it has raised $610,000 in a pre-seed round. The company will use the capital injection to accelerate growth, invest in product development and hire new tech talents. This funding announcement follows Clafiya’s admission into the 2022 Google Black Founders Fund.
The round, a mix of VC funds, angel investments, and grants, saw contributions from investors like Norrsken Accelerator, Acquired Wisdom Fund (AWF), Hustle Fund, Voltron Capital, Microtraction, Ajim Capital, HoaQ, Bold Angel Fund, Shivdasani Family and other angel investors.
Clafiya was founded in 2021 and currently operates in Lagos and Enugu. Through in-person and virtual consultations, it connects patients with healthcare professionals, allowing them to get medical advice and treatment without the hassle of hospital visits.
During the virtual consultation, the patient is connected to a doctor via video call, making it feel like an online clinic has come to their home.
Jennie Nwokoye, Clafiya CEO
Beyond consultations, Clafiya’s partnership network offers wellness and health services.
“Our initial goal was to bring healthcare closer to those who preferred avoiding hospitals. However, as our customers started requesting assistance with drug delivery, diagnostics, and mental health services, we evolved into an online primary healthcare clinic,” explained Nwokoye.
The platform facilitates medicine delivery to patients’ doorsteps, eliminating the need for arduous trips to the pharmacy. The startup’s end-to-end healthcare service also includes the convenient collection of diagnostic testing samples directly from patients’ residences.
Clafiya connects users to gyms, nutrition clinics, wellness centers, and other specialized well-being services. To do this, it partners with providers of such services, and some of its partners include i-Fitness, Khairo Diet Clinic, Blueroomcare, Pharmarun, and Famasi Africa.
According to a press release, the startup has grown its revenue by 15% month-on-month. Clafiya makes money from the services it provides to over 3,000 individuals and hundreds of businesses that use it to offer health insurance to their employees. It also makes a shared profit from the pharmacies, health centers, and wellness providers it partners with.
It is worth noting that Clafiya has changed the payment model on its platform from a subscription model to a pay-on-demand model. It used to offer a Pay As You Go (PAYG) option at ₦5000 and two subscription plans, one for individuals at ₦13,000 per quarter and the other for families of four at ₦24,000 per quarter.
Now the company has switched from those traditional plans and introduced the Clafiya Wallet, enabling users to deposit a specified amount and only pay for the healthcare service on-demand.
“The wallet is modeled after the PAYG plan, which we found was more popular with our users. Individuals and businesses can top up their Clafiya wallet and use it to pay for healthcare services. Unlike HMOs, the funds in our wallets do not expire, and they only deplete with use. Plus, we offer cash back rewards on deposits with us,” Jennie added.
Speaking on Microtraction’s early investment in Clafiya, Dayo Koleowo, a Partner at Microtraction, said:
Clafiya’s mission to provide seamless access to primary healthcare for Africans and the approach to tackling the existing underperforming alternatives was interesting to us at Microtraction.
We wasted no time in being their first institutional investor because we were simply impressed by the team’s experience, their go-to-market strategy, and the huge market opportunity identified. We are excited about the plans and different solutions they are working on to bring primary healthcare to every home in Africa.
One of the challenges Clafiya faces is the deeply ingrained culture of self-medication prevalent among Nigerians. Despite this, the founder said, “Our priority lies in building trust with our customers and ensuring they receive the best possible experience.” By putting customer satisfaction at the forefront, Clafiya aims to gradually change healthcare-seeking behaviors and encourage responsible healthcare utilization.
