Redbird, a Ghanaian healthtech startup, has raised a $1.5 million funding to expand its medical testing services and capabilities across Africa.
The new investment comes from Johnson & Johnson Foundation and Newtown Partners via the Imperial Venture Fund. This brings the total funding raised by the startup to $2 million.
Redbird, which was founded in 2018 by Patrick Beattie, Andrew Quao and Edward Grandstaff, provides patients with easy access to their digital health records via five-minute tests available at community pharmacies. Its pharmacy platform is currently available at over 350 community pharmacies, and offers 10 rapid tests.
Results are saved to a user’s personal Redbird health record, which can be accessed by the patients via their app or at any partner pharmacy.
The team also aims to provide doctors with access to these health records under patients’ consent, providing a more complete picture of a patient’s history.
“We’re thrilled to work with Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures and Newtown Partners. Newtown and Imperial’s expertise in African supply chains, coupled with Johnson & Johnson’s long-standing commitment to improve care for the most vulnerable populations through technology, create a strong support for our vision of revolutionising health monitoring,” Redbird CEO Beattie said.
Llew Claasen, managing partner of Newtown Partners, said he was excited about Redbird’s decentralised business model that enables rapid diagnostic testing at the point of primary care in local community pharmacies.
“Redbird’s digital health record platform has the potential to drive significant value to the broader healthcare value chain and is a vital step toward improving healthcare outcomes in Africa. We look forward to supporting the team as they prove out their business model and scale across the African continent,” he said.
