CardinalStone Capital Advisers, Invests $6M in Nigeria’s HealthTech Startup, AfyA Care’s Series A Round
CardinalStone Capital Advisers (CCA), the West African private equity fund manager, announced today a $6 million Series A funding round in AfyA Care, a health-tech startup providing integrated healthcare services such as hospital care, health insurance, and health technology services across Nigeria.
AfyA Care utilizes the funds to improve its experienced talent bench, grow its hospital brands, and scale its Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and proprietary health tech solutions to transform healthcare delivery in Nigeria and beyond.
This investment reflects CCA’s strategy of investing in high-potential growth companies that have the potential to positively impact communities while also providing investors with long-term attractive returns.
With a patient-to-bed ratio of 2,000:1 in Nigeria, compared to the peer average of 1,000:1, a low health insurance penetration of less than 5%, and a 1,000:1 doctor-patient ratio according to the President of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Ojinmah Uche, as well as a mass exodus of health workers from the world’s most populous black nation to the West, the health care market is grossly underserved, and any investment in the sector promises a higher return on investment while also providing more coverage to the underserved population.
AfyA Care is positioned to exploit these market opportunities by first consolidating the Lagos market and then expanding to key cities in Nigeria and West Africa over the next five years.
Why CardinalStone Invested in AfyA Care
Speaking on the investment, Femi Ogunjimi, Partner at CardinalStone Capital Advisers, said “We are always keen to partner with companies that have proven the capacity to disrupt and transform industries. Given the significant gaps in healthcare provision in Nigeria as well as sub-Saharan Africa more broadly, it was important to collaborate with people who deeply understand the industry, the urgency, and the scale of the problem, and are well-equipped to put in the work to deliver the results. We look forward to supporting the team at AfyA Care as they seek to build a healthcare ecosystem for diverse segments of the market and are excited to see where AfyA Care goes in five years.”
Commenting on the investment round, Tosin Runsewe, CEO of AfyA Care, says, “We are delighted to announce our partnership with CardinalStone Capital Advisers. CCA has been instrumental, not only in securing the funding to build capacity but also in lending its expertise to execute the vision for AfyA Care. Our expansion plans are supported by decades of expertise across industries, and we are excited to be working with a firm that supports our vision to transform the future of healthcare in Nigeria and beyond.”
About AfyA Care
Tosin Runsewe founded AfyA Care in 2019 to invest in healthcare assets in Nigeria and make healthcare more accessible and affordable. AfyA Care is a vertically integrated healthcare institution that is building vertically integrated healthcare institutions and optimizing delivery models that serve its target market segments by aggregating hospital capacity and demand.
To serve its low-to-mid-market consumers, the startup has a portfolio of hospitals with 215 beds under the R-Jolad Hospital brand. It is also planning to build a 140-bed hospital under the Oakwood Medical Centre brand to serve the mid-high-end market.
AfyA Care currently manages health providers such as EROM Diagnostics, Octosoft (health tech), and Bastion HMO.
This is CCA’s fourth investment in AfyA Care from its $64 million CCA Growth Fund (CCAGF), which targets growth-stage SMEs in Nigeria and Ghana. Its portfolio also includes i-Fitness, Appzone, and Quality Foods Africa.