Who should apply?
For this cohort, we are looking for African-led healthtech start-ups whose innovative solutions are expanding patients’ access to high-quality and affordable healthcare products and services through pharmacies in Africa.
Investing in Innovation (i3) – 2025
Advancing healthcare access and delivery through African-led healthtech innovation
UPDATE
On Jan 25th, the US government issued a ‘stop work’ directive for US aid, intensifying the need for locally-driven, market-creating approaches to health product distribution and service delivery across Africa.
In response, i3 has taken the decision to prioritize immediate support for 5-7 growth-stage companies building the Future of Pharmacy care in Africa, increasing efforts to help these innovative companies rapidly expand access to patient care.
Thus, i3 is only selecting growth-stage companies focused on the Future of Pharmacy at this time. We aim to support to a set of early-stage companies at a later date. Please stay tuned.
In response, i3 has taken the decision to prioritize immediate support for 5-7 growth-stage companies building the Future of Pharmacy care in Africa, increasing efforts to help these innovative companies rapidly expand access to patient care.
Thus, i3 is only selecting growth-stage companies focused on the Future of Pharmacy at this time. We aim to support to a set of early-stage companies at a later date. Please stay tuned.
Investing in Innovation (i3) is a pan-African commercialization support program that aims to help scale 5-7 African healthtech startups who are working to advance healthcare access and delivery in Africa.
Sponsored by the Gates Foundation, MSD, Cencora, Chemonics, Endless Foundation, HELP Logistics, and Sanofi, i3’s third cohort will provide 5-7 startups with up to $225K in risk-tolerant funding and connect them to leading healthcare organizations (donors, industry, global health institutions and governments) to scale their impact and produce measurable advances in access.
What we offer
- Access to Markets: i3 connects healthtech start-ups with large healthcare organizations including governments, donors, and global health institutions to drive adoption of start-ups’ offerings and scale.
- Risk-Tolerant Finance: i3’s third cohort will provide grant funding of up to $225K for growth-stage innovators, to overcome barriers to partnerships with large healthcare organizations e.g. WHO pre-qualification and regulatory compliance.
- Partnership Readiness Support: i3 provides a roadmap to help innovators meet the requirements for partnering with major healthcare organizations.
- Bespoke Deal Facilitation: i3 helps innovators refine their strategic positioning and increase the likelihood of successful partnerships and deals with large healthcare organizations.
- Communications and Advocacy: i3 provides highly professionalized communications and advocacy, to amplify the work of African healthtech innovators in the global health landscape. Additionally, i3 works towards resolving key ecosystem barriers that impact healthtech innovation in Africa.
Overview
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Closes February 28, 2025
| Organizer | Investing in Innovation |
| Website | Visit website |
| Targets | Africa |
| Sectors | Healthcare, HealthTech, Pharmaceuticals |
Growth stage eligibility criteria
Growth-stage startups must fulfil the criteria below to qualify:
Focus on African ownership
- Must have a strategic focus on meeting the needs of African customers in Africa.
- Must be headquartered or have a legal presence in Africa.
Focus on tech-enabled and data-driven healthcare delivery and/or product distribution
- Must offer advanced technology-enabled solutions designed to improve pharmacy services. Innovators that develop novel health products or devices as a part of their delivery or distribution services are eligible. Excluded are innovators who are solely focused on research, education, and product or device development. The business does not need to be solely focused on health to be eligible.
- Non-profits, consultancies, intermediaries and consortiums are not eligible.
Growth stage
- Growth-stage tech-enabled businesses owned or operated by African Nationals, and with a legal presence on the continent
Start-ups offering advanced technology-enabled solutions designed to improve pharmacy services in Africa. - To be considered “Growth stage” i3 seeks innovators that have
- Products/services at/near national scale in at least one country
- Strong, well-defined revenue model, sales and operational capabilities
- Proven customer and revenue diversification with aggregate annual revenues over $500K USD
- Clear plan for businesses growth and sustainability
- Decreasing customer acquisition costs
- Clear plan for growth of healthcare offering
- Clear need and plan for partnerships with industry, donors and global health agencies that correspond to i3’s offerings
Social impact
- The business does not need to be solely focused on health.
- Must demonstrate that grant funding will generate direct improvements in one or more of the following areas: availability, accessibility, quality, affordability or visibility of critical health products and services in the pharmacy sector.
How are we going to select innovators?
- We will select 5-7 growth-stage healthtech start-ups for this cohort.
- Selection will be conducted by an Expert Selection Committee, comprising two representatives of Gates Foundation (donor) and MSD (industry), senior representatives from our accelerator partners, and four independent, Africa-based healthcare and innovation experts.
- To ensure equitable representation, the selection committee will comprise at least two women (25%) and all committee members will be required to confirm the absence of existing conflicts of interest.
- Selection will be conducted across three levels:
- All applicants will be screened based on the Eligibility Criteria by representatives of the i3 team (Salient Advisory and SCIDaR) and accelerator partners.
- Eligible start-ups will be assessed using a common scorecard. The top 10 growth-stage start-ups will be retained for a second level of assessment.
- Thirdly, the selection committee will convene (following independent reviews of the applicants) to oversee virtual pitches from the highest ranked growth-stage start-ups, and to select the top 5-7 growth-stage start-ups for this cohort.
- Finally, the i3 Steering Committee will review selected start-ups to ensure they align with i3 offerings and that selection is equitable
Timeline
Frequently asked questions
Questions about the application process and program can be submitted tosupport@innovationsinafrica.com on or before February 10th. Responses to all submitted questions will be posted on the i3 website by February 21st.
If you would like to discuss whether your work is relevant to the I3 program or require any other clarification about the application process, please contact us onsupport@innovationsinafrica.com
I3 applicants must be:
- Growth-stage tech-enabled businesses owned or operated by African Nationals, and with a legal presence on the continent
- Start-ups offering advanced technology-enabled solutions designed to improve pharmacy services in Africa.
- Demonstrable potential for social and societal impact
Deadline for application for the 2025 cohort is February 28th, 2025
- Yes, you can make more than one application provided they are for separate businesses or ventures, if you are involved in both.
- Please do not submit more than one application for the same business
No, the I3 program only accepts businesses with products/services, and customers. The more evidence you can provide to demonstrate the impact of your products or services, the better your chances of being selected as part of the cohort.
There is no fee required to apply for the I3 Program. All you need to do is complete the application form, enclose the relevant supporting documents, and answer any questions we may ask during or after submission. If you are shortlisted, you will need to set out time to participate in our due diligence process prior to final selection.
All information submitted may be seen by the I3 program team which includes judges and assessors. All members of the program team are bound by confidentiality agreements. We will retain application materials of applicants (including applicants who are not selected) for up to two years.
Yes, applicants who are not selected may apply to join later cohorts provided they meet the eligibility requirements at the time.
VC4A’s adherence to guidelines set by GDPR VC4A is a data processor when it comes to applications received and processed via the VC4A.com website. VC4A does not process or use the data itself without explicit consent from the user filling in the application, and otherwise only stores the data on behalf of 3rd parties that use the VC4A.com website to receive and process applications. Under article 17, the right to be forgotten, VC4A has an automated pruning process that deletes all application data after 36 months. Any data added to the VC4A.com website directly, like user data and venture profiles, can be altered (Art. 16) and fully removed (Art. 17) from VC4A systems. VC4A also offers users the ability to download all of their data from the VC4A.com website (Art. 15 + Art. 20 GDPR – data portability).
I3 reserves the right to publicize your involvement in the program through any communications channel (including but not limited to the program’s website, websites of program partners, social media platforms of program partners as well as other public communications channels). All shortlisted participants may be required to participate in publicity campaigns including but not limited to media interviews.
To maximize the impact of the I3 program, if you are shortlisted or selected for the program, we ask you to not publicize this fact until a date set by our communications team. We will work closely with you to ensure this.
