TechNigeria: A weekly digest of what went down in Nigeria’s tech space

DrugStoc, Shuttlers, Chooya, Aboki Africa, Identitypass, Releaf, Gricd and Publiseer. These are some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Africa Health Holdings, a healthcare startup, raised $18 million in a Series A round.

Also, Nigeria’s female-led “tech-enabled bus sharing” company, Shuttlers, secured a $1.6 million in seed funding from several investors.

Let’s get into details.

Nigeria’s e-health startup, DrugStoc, eyes $4.4 million in its ongoing fundraiser.

Our correspondent profiles DrugStoc as an e-health drug procurement platform. The startup eliminates challenges faced by Nigerians by linking drug companies with hospitals and pharmacies in Nigeria.

We noted that the startup was founded by Chibuzo Opara and Adham Yehia after experiencing first-hand problems of poor pharmaceutical supply chains.

One of the biggest raiser during the week was closed by healthcare startup, Africa Health Holdings.

The startup raised $18 million series A funding. The bulk of the funds will go towards building its “tech-forward healthcare system” across Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.

The round was led by Asia Pacific Land/Natural World Limited, and saw the participation of a number of investors including TRB Advisors, Breyer Capital, M3, Inc., Valiant Capital, Kepple Ventures, and SUNU Capital.

A very impressive record was set by a female-led startup, Shuttlers, with a major raiser milestone.

Shuttlers secured a $1.6 million in seed funding from several investors. Record revealed that the development comes after years of bootstrapping as a startup in the mobility space.

Led by Chicago and Africa-focused investment firm, VestedWorld, the new injected fund is expected to help it blitz scale within and outside Nigeria.

The Entrepreneurship World Cup did not end without awarding Nigeria’s Chooya a reward prize of $100k.

Chooya is an Aba-based e-commerce startup. The reward comes as a support finance in the Entrepreneurship World Cup.

The startup was founded in 2019 by Igwe Uguru as a “search engine for African traditional markets.”

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Another fundraiser that got the tech community talking is the $360k pre-seed funding of Identitypass.

Our correspondent described the startup as a digital compliance and security company. While the fund is expected to help it acquire more customers, it is also expected to develop its product as it looks to expand its team.

The digital compliance startup was launched in January of this year by Lanre Ogungbe, Niyi Adegboye and David Obi.

Three Nigerian firms won $480,000 in total after featuring in a programme funded by Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma.

The initiative, Jack Ma funding for African businesses, is reported to be devoted to startups looking to solve major socio-economic problems in Africa.

Lagos-based food processing company, Releaf, emerged second in the contest, receiving $250,000 while two other Nigerian firms, Gricd and Publiseer, finished amongst the top 10 finalists, clinching $100,000 each in prize funding.

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