African healthtech startups have secured four new strategic partnerships aimed at expanding access to healthcare, strengthening pharmaceutical supply chains and improving digital pharmacy regulation across the continent.

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The deals were announced by Investing in Innovation Africa (i3) during its fourth annual Access to Markets (A2M) event, held alongside the Africa HealthTech Summit.

Speaking at this year’s event, Oladunni Lawal, Investing in Innovation Lead, said: “African innovators are reshaping healthcare delivery across the region, with solutions designed to address local gaps and reach the communities and patients who need them most. Through Access to Markets, we are bringing regional and global partners closer to these businesses, opening commercial opportunities that enable their innovations to deliver greater health impact.”

The partnerships include Dawa Mkononi and NMB Bank, which will provide interest-free working capital to pharmacies, drug shops and health facilities in Tanzania through Dawa Mkononi’s credit-scoring platform. The company says its platform has already disbursed more than $6 million to frontline facilities.

Kenya’s MYDAWA has partnered with Endless Health and Ariadne Labs to develop and test a digital-first model for hypertension and diabetes care through private pharmacies in East Africa. MYDAWA is also working with Turn.io to improve patient engagement through WhatsApp.

Rubayat Khan, Director of Health Programs, Endless commented: “Chronic disease care in East Africa is being delivered through private pharmacies whether the system plans for it or not. What is missing is evidence about whether that channel can deliver quality, not just convenience, which is exactly what this partnership with MYDAWA and Ariadne Labs is designed to produce.”

“This partnership gives us an opportunity to make access more affordable and strengthen care delivery for patients in their own communities,” said Priscilla Muhiu, Group COO of MYDAWA.

Meanwhile, Meditect has secured debt financing from Boehringer Ingelheim to expand access to affordable and authentic medicines across Sub-Saharan Africa while supporting the digitisation of pharmaceutical supply chains.

“Meditect is also playing a critical role in tackling the widespread challenge of counterfeit and substandard medicines across the region. We are proud to support their expansion, ensuring that more patients can more easily find affordable and authentic pharmaceuticals, whenever and wherever they might need them,” shared Aditya Peri, Associate Director at Boehringer Ingelheim.

In Nigeria, Sproxil and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) signed a Memorandum of Collaboration to support pharmacy regulation using digital and AI systems. The initiative will cover online pharmaceutical sales, field audit digitisation and continuing professional development for pharmacists.

i3 said its market-access programme has facilitated more than 760 introductions, resulting in 165 partnerships, pilots and MOUs worth more than $19 million. As of April 2026, startups supported by the initiative had reached more than 6.85 million patients and tracked, protected or distributed over 209 million health products across Africa.

The A2M event brought together 20 African healthtech innovators and 57 global and regional industry players, including Gavi, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and AMREF.

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