Ilara Health aims to improve quality of care in Kenya

Ilara Health is a Kenyan healthtech startup focused on building a network of tech-enabled primary healthcare clinics (PHCs) across Africa – delivering care to underserved populations.

"We finance the deployment of essential equipment and consumables in under-equipped clinics and digitize these facilities with our software," said Ilara Health co-founder and CEO Emilian Popa, in an interview with Connecting Africa.

"The best-performing clinical partners are then converted into branded Ilara Health clinics and rewarded with re-modelled premises, upgraded labs and overhauled pharmacies," Popa continued.

The startup has increased healthcare access to the Kenyan population through the rollout of a business-to-business (B2B) health and occupational service that grants uninsured workers access to care at the company's network of partner clinics for a fixed monthly fee.

Popa explained that Ilara Health was established in 2019 because of East Africa's fragmented primary care sector, growing health crises and lack of access to quality healthcare in the region.

"Across the African continent, 500 million people struggle to access a simple blood test and over 55% of the time, clinical guidelines are not followed for common conditions. We are on a mission to mitigate this inequity, widen access and improve the quality of healthcare in the region," he explained.

"We are already seeing a great impact, as more than 210,000 patients are registered on Ilara Health's clinic operating system, with 60% of patients registered as women, 25% under the age of 12 and 87% of clinic partners are in low/low-middle income neighborhoods," he continued.

Ilara Health funding

Popa said the company raised US$4.2 million in debt-equity in pre-Series A funding in February this year, bringing its total funding to $11.7 million.

"The proceeds have been used to scale our operations in Kenya and deepen healthcare access through the rollout of our B2B health and occupational service," Popa noted.

The company's investors include TLCOM Capital, Global Ventures, AAIC Investment and Kiva Capital and has also received support from Google for Startups, IBM, and Creative Destruction Lab.

In February 2024, Ilara Health raised US$4.2 million debt-equity in pre-Series A funding, bringing its total funding to $11.7 million. (Source: Ilara Health)

"We are grateful for the continued support of our investors, enabling us to transform as a business," the CEO continued.

Competition, competitive advantage and expansion plans

Other Kenyan healthtech startups are doing similar things in East Africa.

One notable healthtech startup is TIBU Health, an omnichannel healthtech company providing healthcare services where people live and work .

Popa said he believed working together was important to provide communities with access to the best healthcare possible.

He added that Ilara Health's proprietary operating system enables clinics to make rapid, data-driven decisions.

"Our health management information system maintains patient health records, facilitates patient engagement via messaging and education and enables data-powered analytics and practice management," he explained.

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Popa said that the company is currently focused on Kenya as its primary market and is working on expanding its reach and number of patients through the B2B health and occupational service.

"However, looking at the wider region, there are 200,000 PHCs across Africa treating over 100 million patients per month and generating over $10 billion in yearly revenues. This sector, and region, is poised for exponential growth and presents many opportunities for us," Popa noted.

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*Top image is of Ilara Health Co-Founder and CEO Emilian Popa. (Source: Ilara Health)

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa