Lifestores Healthcare raises $3M to expand its pharmaceutical marketplace across Nigeria

Africa’s $45 billion pharmaceuticals market is expected to grow 10% CAGR to $100 billion by 2030. Yet, the sector struggles with highly fragmented and undercapitalized supply chains rife with fake medications, which cause the death of thousands of patients yearly; in Nigeria, 20-40% of drugs are counterfeit. 

A handful of healthtech companies bring efficiency to Nigeria’s pharmaceutical supply chain issues; Lifestores Healthcare is one. In 2020, it raised a $1 million seed round, followed by its newly announced $3 million pre-Series A funding; the latter and oversubscribed round was led by Health54, with Aruwa Capital Management as a supporting lead and participation from other existing investors.

Pharmacies in Nigeria play an essential role in how people access medication in the country. Although pharmacies sometimes help encourage self-diagnosis dealings among patients, they remain one of the cheapest options for getting healthcare. However, given the fragmentation and underdevelopment of resources in healthcare, pharmacies cannot perform to their optimal capabilities. These inadequacies lead to the high prevalence of fake medications as quality ones also become expensive and difficult to obtain. 

After taking on pharmaceutical-related and supply-chain projects in their previous jobs, co-founders Bryan Mezue and Andrew Garza knew that whatever they were building should democratize access to quality and affordable primary healthcare. They launched Lifestores Healthcare in 2017 as a chain of retail pharmacies using technology to provide various services. There are two B2B components to Lifestores. The first is the B2B marketplace called OGApharmacy. Launched during the pandemic in 2020, it lets pharmacies and hospitals aggregate their purchasing needs, with which Lifestores negotiates with suppliers for the lowest possible price on high-quality medications, thereby getting 10 to 20% discounts for them. The other is an ERP system that pharmacies and dispensaries can use to run their operations. 

Image Credits: Lifestores Healthcare

Lifestores Healthcare provides its services through a network of more than 750 outlets. The healthtech outfit said