Axmed raises $2m seed to boost medicine supply in emerging markets
TLDR
- Axmed, a B2B marketplace, secures $2 million in seed funding from Founderful Ventures to connect manufacturers with health institutions, combating inefficiencies, shortages, high costs, and counterfeit drugs proliferation in the healthcare sector.
- The startup aims to aggregate demand, enabling buyers to source drugs directly from manufacturers at reduced costs, bypassing traditional pharmaceutical supply chains with multiple intermediaries.
- Initially targeting markets in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda, Axmed plans to engage faith-based institutions, NGOs, government care providers, and procurement agencies to promote its platform.
Axmed, a B2B marketplace, has secured $2 million in seed funding from Founderful Ventures to support its mission of connecting manufacturers with health institutions to address inefficiencies leading to shortages, high costs, and counterfeit drugs proliferation in the healthcare sector.
The startup aims to achieve this goal by aggregating demand, allowing buyers to source drugs directly from manufacturers at reduced costs, and bypassing the traditional pharmaceutical supply chains characterized by multiple intermediaries. Both sellers and buyers in the marketplace must meet various regulatory and legal requirements to participate in trading.
Initially focusing on markets such as Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda, Axmed plans to target faith-based institutions, non-governmental organizations, government-led care providers, and procurement agencies to establish its presence and drive the adoption of its platform.
Key Takeaways
The global challenge of access to quality and affordable essential medicines affects around 2 billion people, particularly those in lower and middle-income countries. This issue is compounded by the presence of low-quality or counterfeit drugs, which further exacerbate health risks and contribute to preventable diseases and fatalities. Axmed aims to address this problem by tackling supply chain fragmentation in the pharmaceutical sector. In doing so, Axmed joins a growing cohort of platforms like Africa Medicines Supply Platform and Xs2Meds, as well as healthtech firms such as Drugstoc and Remedial Health. Together, these entities are leveraging digital solutions to streamline the pharmaceutical supply chain, enhance sourcing and distribution processes, and ultimately improve access to vital medications for pharmacies and healthcare institutions, including hospitals.
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