CDC Group has closed a co-investment with Novastar Ventures in mPharma, a tech-enabled healthcare company driving supply chain efficiencies for pharmaceutical products across Africa.

Novastar Ventures is a CDC-backed venture capital fund manager, which led the company’s Series C funding round.

Stephen Priestley, Managing Director, Funds and Capital Partnerships, at CDC, said: “I am delighted to announce our co-investment in mPharma, alongside Novastar Ventures, a key partner for CDC, to support the company in developing a more efficient supply chain for pharmaceutical products across Africa.”

mPharma partners with community pharmacies, using technology and data to aggregate demands and create efficient supply chains within the vast and fragmented pharmaceutical market in Africa.

This approach allows the company to distribute quality pharmaceutical products at a significantly lower cost than competitors and provided affordable and accessible healthcare to end consumers across the continent. mPharma currently operates in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and serves approximately one million patients annually, through a network of over 400 pharmacies.

In the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, mPharma is developing a private sector strategy to increase the availability of testing in Ghana.

During the crisis, the company has partnered with medical laboratories in Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia, and converted the labs into testing centres that rapidly increase the number of available tests.

So far, mPharma has procured and distributed 700,000 testing kits and 120 PCR medical equipment to medical labs in eight African countries.

The Venture Scale-up programme aims to invest in early-stage companies that leverage technology and innovative business models to achieve transformational impact at scale.

CDC’s investment in mPharma through the programme will enable the company to expand its retail network by an additional 500 pharmacies, reduce the risk of counterfeit medication, and decrease cost of essential medicines to end consumers over the next several years.

Gregory Rockson, Co-founder and CEO of mPharma, said: “We look forward to working with CDC Group due to its deep roots in Africa, extensive government contacts and expertise in environmental, social and governance practices.”

CDC’s commitment will contribute to UN’s Sustainable Development Goal on Good Health and Well-Being  (SDG#3).