RecoMed raises $1.5m to scale online healthcare bookings in SA

Online healthcare bookings platform RecoMed is having a great October. Fresh from building a customized bookings platform for the Discovery Health Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, the company raised $1.5 million in its latest funding round led by Vunani Fintech ($1 million), and a group including AAIC, Growth Grid Venture Capital Partners, and Kenya-based Push Ventures.

RecoMed plans to use this funding to add new integrated platforms into its platform in the coming year. This could include an ambitious plan to deliver prescription medication directly to consumers.

RecoMed launched in 2013 as an African early adopter in telehealth and saw a 700% increase in bookings on its platforms during the pandemic.

“We are facilitating over R250 million in healthcare spend annually,” explained the company’s founding CEO Sheraan Amod in a statement.

“Whether a patient is looking for a convenient doctor appointment or the Covid-19 vaccine jab, we make it simple and easy to do.”

RecoMed African expansion

The company is also looking to expand further into Africa with a Kenya launch planned for early in 2022. This move draws from RecoMed’s experience in assisting corporates to navigate the infrastructure failings to reach a mass consumer audience.

“The future of health innovation is an exciting space for Africa as we continue to offer the global market a scalable solution at low cost-and where necessary with low bandwidth, which has never been done anywhere else in the world,” explained Amod.

While the continental expansion is exciting, lead investor Vunani Fintech Fund director Mark Anderson is optimistic about how RecoMed is meeting market needs in South Africa: “We are still in the early days of leveraging technology as a utility in healthcare, so the potential here is massive. We are confident that this latest round of fundraising will make a major contribution towards promoting greater efficiencies in the health ecosystem that will benefit all stakeholders.”

Covid-19 is still driving massive digital healthcare adoption around the world with Africa benefitting most from the new efficiencies and subsequent ease of access to healthcare interventions. This was the original vision Amod had after experiencing the convenience of online medical appointment booking during a brief stay in the US before returning to SA to start RecoMed.

“Online technology is enjoying a drastic growth in popularity and customer adoption, not least as a result of the restrictions imposed by lockdowns and the need to work and operate remotely,” Amod points out.

“The user-friendly platforms and applications we have developed greatly facilitate this evolution and suit people’s lifestyles, enabling them to interact 24/7 from wherever they are situated, by phone, PC or tablet. For instance, we find that 70 percent of patient bookings occur after hours.”

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Feature image: Supplied