Investing in Innovation (i3)
Investing in Innovation (i3)is a pan-African initiative to support the commercialization and impact 60 promising early & growth-stage companies with grants & access to markets support. This program aims to help scale African health tech businesses that bring high-quality health products (medicines, consumables, medical devices, assistive technologies, etc.) closer to where patients are, at affordable prices.
Inspired by the progress and promise of African innovators in supply chain, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, alongside Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), WHO AFRO, AUDA-NEPAD, and AmerisourceBergen, are launching i3.
Pillars of the program:
Access to Markets: i3’s flagship event that connects innovators to leading local and international industry players, financial institutions, donors, and governments to establish partnerships and pilot projects that fuel impact and scale.
Risk-Tolerant Finance: i3 provides systematic grants of $50,000 to all participating startups. This flexible funding is provided to address key business model needs and advance the startups’ charitable impacts.
Investment readiness support: i3 provides participating startups with tailored investment readiness support, delivered by leading innovation experts at CCHUB, Startupbootcamp Afritech, IMPACT Lab and Villgro Africa.
What do we have to offer to the selected participants?
The consortium of donors, industry actors and African institutions will provide 60 promising early and growth-stage start-ups with risk-tolerant funding and access to markets support to power innovators’ health impact and scale.
What problems we would like applicants to solve?
i3 powers companies who bring affordable, high-quality health products closer to where patients are. we’re looking for companies solving supply chain challenges with data-driven solutions that include:
- Health Product Availability
- Accessibility of Health Products
- Health Product Quality
- Health Product Affordability
- Visibility of Health Product Movement
- Waste Management in Health Supply Chains
Partners:
i3 is operationalized by:
- Coordination team: Salient Advisory, SCIDaR, SouthBridge A&I.
- Implementing partners: CCHub, Startupbootcamp, IMPACT Lab, Villgro Africa
- Website: https://innovationsinafrica.com/
