14 May 2019

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Dutch-African mobile health payments firm CarePay International completes Series A financing round to expand its mobile platform beyond Kenya into Nigeria and Tanzania. Through mobile phones, CarePay International connects health payers to millions of people in Africa who are currently excluded from access to affordable, quality healthcare services. In the past 2 years, CarePay’s platform has connected 4 million lives and 1,200 healthcare providers in Kenya and Nigeria Dutch-African mobile health payments firm CarePay International today announced it raised $45 million growth capital in its Series A financing round, becoming one of the best funded start-ups in Africa.

The new capital will be used to expand the company’s mobile health payments platform to new markets, starting with Nigeria and Tanzania. CarePay International works with private and public health payers to connect millions of people to its platform that are currently excluded from quality healthcare services in Africa and other markets. “The mobile phone allows you to reach everyone at almost no extra cost, this creates unprecedented opportunities for health insurance schemes”, says Onno Schellekens, CEO of CarePay International. CarePay International digitally connects health payers such as insurers, beneficiaries and healthcare providers on to one mobile platform, so that they can transact and communicate with each other in real-time.

Due to the permanent connection to all stakeholders, making real-time payments becomes possible if required. This round saw participation from a mix of investors that reflect the company’s strategy to generate a social impact alongside financial returns. Joining this round are Dutch private equity funds IFHA-II and impact investor ELMA Investments, as well as the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs that invested through PharmAccess Group. Tom McPartland, a Board member of ELMA Investments, says that “Universal Health Coverage in Africa will only be possible if governments and their citizens can provide and access health services from both the public and private sectors through seamless and efficient mechanisms, CarePay brings that ambitious vision within the realm of possibility.

”Max Coppoolse, IFHA II-II’s Managing Partner adds “The current health insurance model excludes huge parts of the African population as the administrative costs are too high, there is not enough data and outpatient costs cannot be controlled. CarePay’s mobile technology addresses all these elements and in addition offers cross-sale opportunities and other significant growth prospects for insurers.” CarePay International launched its mobile health payments platform in late 2016 in Kenya in partnership with Safaricom, the operator of mobile money service M-PESA, which is considered to be one of the most successful mobile money services in the world and through which an estimated 40% of Kenyan GDP runs. Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, says “CarePay can do for healthcare inclusion what M-PESA has done for financial inclusion. It provides speed, accountability and massively simplifies the user payments experience.” About CarePay International The mission of CarePay International is to give people the power to care by connecting health payers, beneficiaries and healthcare providers through their mobile platform.

CarePay’s platform allows its users to efficiently communicate and transact with each other through smart contracts. In the past 2 years, over 4 million people and 1,200 healthcare providers have joined the platform in Kenya and Nigeria.

www.carepay.com

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About IFHA II

The Investment Funds for Health in Africa (IFHA-II) is a private equity fund dedicated to investing in small and medium healthcare enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. IFHA-II focuses its investments across various healthcare segments including healthcare provision, insurance, distribution and technology.
http://www.ifhafund.com/

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About ELMA Investments
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‍ELMA Investments, Ltd. is the impact investment arm of The ELMA Foundation, one of the world’s leading foundations whose mission is to improve the lives of children in Africa through sustainable efforts to advance education, improve health and alleviate poverty. www.elmaphilanthropies.org
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About Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs invested in CarePay International through non-governmental organization Health Insurance Fund, part of the PharmAccess Group, which provides catalytic capital to leverage the opportunities of mobile technology to improve healthcare.
‍www.government.nl/ministries/ministry-of-foreign-affairs
‍www.pharmaccess.org

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Press contact press@carepay.com