In November 2021, we invested in Viebeg Technologies – a Rwanda-based health tech company that provides high-quality medical supplies and equipment across East and Central Africa through an innovative data-driven procurement platform. 

The highly fragmented nature of supply chains for medical equipment and supplies in most African markets results in several layers of middlemen and subsequently, punitive price mark ups excluding thousands of patients from quality and affordable healthcare. Quality and availability of supplies and equipment also varies significantly with frequent stock outs and challenges in replacing broken equipment. Inventory management is largely manual resulting in stock-outs, expirations and difficulties in demand prediction.

Launched in 2018, Viebeg de-risks and optimizes medical supply, by taking control of every aspect of the medical supply and demand network in hard-to-serve markets, from logistics and warehousing to last-mile-delivery. Viebeg allows healthcare providers to procure automatically and transparently via its B2B marketplace. Viebeg is also offering hospitals and clinics an inventory management system to ensure that they always have the right medical products and the right quantities in stock. 

By connecting healthcare providers directly with manufacturers – and thereby removing middle-men from the value chain – Viebeg can drive cost savings of up to 30% for its customers. Viebeg further improves affordability by providing flexible payment options for liquidity-constrained healthcare providers, an estimated 60%, who struggle to pay upfront for critical equipment. Using their inventory management system, Viebeg ensures consistent availability of supplies through demand prediction allowing healthcare providers to operate at capacity. Further, by partnering with leading suppliers, Viebeg provides high quality products, tackling the common challenge of counterfeit and expired products.