Since 2017, AAIC Investment has made investments in more than 50 start-ups in the innovation and healthcare industries across Africa. In 2021, one of these start-ups, the financial company Chipper Cash, became a unicorn, demonstrating AAIC’s astute sense of potential investments. The Japanese investment firm supports a range of businesses aiming to transform the medical sector throughout the continent, from a startup that provides inexpensive treatment to underinsured blue-collar workers to another that offers an AI-assisted teleradiology platform. “Achieving a cumulative total of US$40 million for our African Innovation Healthcare Fund (AHF2) was one of our biggest milestones last year,” says Hiroki Ishida, Managing Director of AAIC Partners Africa (Kenya).
The company secured funding from Japanese organizations, including the government-owned Development Bank of Japan, which after concentrating on the Asian market, started looking into prospects in Africa. One of our most recent investors is Hokkoku, a regional bank in Japan that launched its first branch in Kenya among Japanese commercial banks with assistance from AAIC. Ishida emphasizes that AAIC aggressively seeks strategic relationships with investors from Japan and beyond, pointing out that they have already started offering cross-border loans.
In recent years, Kenya’s healthcare system has undergone changes. One of the oldest firms in our portfolio is MYDAWA. It was a pharmaceutical-focused e-commerce company that sold prescription medications online and delivered them to customers’ homes in Nairobi in three hours. Ishida adds, “They have now established a call center, offering telemedicine services, removing the need for people to visit hospitals.” MYDAWA has also broadened its geographic scope by acquiring the Guardian Health Pharmacy in Uganda, one of the biggest pharmacies in the nation with more than 20 locations.
The Managing Director considers how healthcare services are changing in Africa and highlights the need for all-encompassing solutions from customers. As a result, businesses now understand the importance of providing a comprehensive variety of services, including consultation, treatment and aftercare. As companies increasingly combine many offerings under one roof, this diverges from traditional collaborations. The firm’s 2025 plan places a high priority on consolidating the services offered by the start-ups it sponsors in order to keep up with this changing terrain. “We’re looking for ways for our businesses to combine their offerings and establish strategic alliances in particular locales. According to Ishida, this will improve the patient experience, enable higher income creation, and draw in additional investors.
Digitalization and technological breakthroughs have opened the door for a paradigm change in the insurance sector. Conventional insurance providers frequently struggle with the high expenses of a human-centered sales approach. The creative businesses that AAIC promotes, on the other hand, employ digital platforms to target middle-class and lower-class homes and streamline operations while providing more accessible and reasonably priced insurance options. “We have made a strategic investment in BIMA, a business that offers telemedicine services and more reasonably cost medical insurance, with monthly averages of two to three dollars. BIMA operates in Ghana and Tanzania. According to Ishida, this will increase access to healthcare for a larger community. He notes that 70–80% of cases can be successfully handled through telemedicine consultations, however some patients may need to attend the hospital for additional diagnostic or consultation.
With its in-depth knowledge of the African environment, AAIC Investment is aware of the unrealized potential for Japanese engagement in the area. “We are well knowledgeable about the African healthcare system. We have offices in Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. We give investors choices to collaborate with our portfolio companies and share our industry expertise with them,” Ishida explains. The company’s fund seeks to bring cutting-edge Japanese technology and knowledge to the continent while optimizing profits for its investors. AAIC is laying the groundwork for a win-win collaboration that will influence the direction of healthcare in Africa by encouraging alliances between its portfolio companies and Japanese industries and strengthening ties between the two countries.
