SOUTH AFRICA – Aviro Health, a healthtech startup, has secured an undisclosed amount of funding in a pre-series A funding round led by ASISA ESD Fund (managed by Edge Growth), Tuksnovation, and TIA.
The funding will be used to expand and improve the Aviro Pocket Clinic, a digital counselling service that is available through health providers in both the public and private sectors.
In addition, the funding will enable the healthtech company to grow and expand its overall impact both in its HIV self-testing and into new use cases in HIV and a range of other diseases where digital support is needed to help patients in their treatment.
Dr Musaed Abrahams, CEO Aviro Health expands on how the secured funding will assist the healthtech company.
“COVID has highlighted and magnified the pre-existing urgency for health providers to find ways to effectively support patients in digital and semi-automated ways, reducing routine interactions and allowing health workers to serve 10x more patients while making accessing care friendly and easier for patients,” Musaed said.
“This funding will allow us to expand the flexibility and scalability of our service, so that as we grow, we are able to effectively and securely support multiple health providers and new care pathways.”
Founded in 2012 and based in Cape Town, the healthtech startup’s clinic has reportedly assisted over 50 000 patients in accessing health services in both South Africa and Kenya.
The Aviro Pocket Clinic aims to provide accessible counselling and linkage services via mobile phones or technology-based devices in private or public sector facilities.
Phindile Tshabangu, Tuksnovation comments on the important work that the healthtech company does and their investment.
“Tuksnovation is very pleased to see Aviro Health, one of our first investments from our seed fund and an early success story of our incubation programme, attract additional funding and support,” said Tshabangu.
“We have established the seed fund as a technology de-risking instrument and a bridge builder for start-ups to the next fundable investment position and the results from this funding round validates our proposition.
“The impact of the Aviro Health technology on the health care system of our country and the job creation potential realised through the growth of Aviro Health underpins the social impact potential of the technology across the continent.”
The innovative platform assists patients in achieving stable health outcomes by creating a crafted medical content plan which is delivered through various platforms either web, app or the WhatsApp chatbot.