Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [04/05/2020]

SA startup Trixta has launched a free web app that enables hospitals to get a leading indicator of how many Covid-19 cases they will have in the near future.

This, while logistics startup Sendy has launched a home delivery solution dubbed “Sendy Go” for local traders in Nairobi.

With the coronavirus (Covid-19) headlining news all over the world, Ventureburn has launched a regular daily roundup on the virus and how it is affecting Africa’s tech startup sector.

Trixta has launched a free app that allows hospitals to get an idea of how many cases they will have in the near future

Those with any news releases relating to Covid-19 and Africa’s tech startup sector can send these to editor@memeburn.com.

Here then is the latest on the coronavirus and African tech startups:

New app to track Covid-19 cases: SA startup Trixta, which runs a collaborative low-code platform for business thinkers and software developers, has launched ReportCovidCase.com — a free web app that enables hospitals to get a leading indicator of how many cases they will have in the near future. The web app is being trialled by 70 doctors and one hospital in Cape Town, with immediate plans to roll it out to two more hospitals in the region. Says Trixta co-founder Roger Norton: “If hospitals can start measuring what the referring doctors are seeing, they can better prepare for the coming days and weeks”. The startup was founded in 2017 by Norton and Mark Levitt (pictured above, from left to right), who run the SA and San Francisco (US) operations, respectively. A team of six developers in Cape Town are behind the Covid-19 Case Tracking platform. To date, Trixta has raised $1.8-million in the US, with the last raise in April last year.

Healthech begins Covid-19 tests: The Aliko Dangote Foundation, a philanthropic endeavor of Nigerian entrepreneur Aliko Dangote, has contracted Nigerian healthech 54Gene to immediately set up a 400-test-a-day capacity laboratory in Kano State. The startup is accredited by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and has already set up labs in Lagos and in Ogun States. The lab, which was inaugurated yesterday in Kano, will start with a testing capacity of 400 tests a day, increasing to 1000 tests a day by May 10th.

Sendy adds donation service: Logistics startup Sendy has launched a home delivery solution dubbed “Sendy Go” for local traders in Nairobi, reported tech publication TechMoran in an article last week. Sendy will help families in need by matching every order made through its app with a donation of the same item to those in need. In January the startup closed a $20-million Series-B investment round (see this story).

Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [30/04/2020]
Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [29/04/2020]
Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [28/04/2020]
Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [27/04/2020]

Featured image (left to right): Roger Norton and Mark Levitt (Supplied)