AVIRO Health has announced that the pre-series A funding round, from ASISA ESD Fund, Tuksnovation, and TIA, has been successfully closed.
In a statement, the company said the funding would improve and expand Aviro Pocket Clinic, a digital counselling service made available through health providers, in the public and private sector, that empowers patients with accessible and engaging counselling, and linkage to services through mobile phones or devices in facilities.
Aviro Health describes itself as a company that takes a human-centred approach to the intersection of Medicine, Design, and Technology, to create digital tools that improve the quality of health care.
“The funding and associated networks will allow Aviro to expand their impact – first with their clinically validated and NDOH-endorsed support for HIV self-testing, but also into new use cases in HIV, and other diseases, where health workers have identified that they can use digital support to help their patients successfully navigate care,” Aviro said.
According to the company, in the last two years, Aviro Pocket Clinic has helped more than 50 000 patients to access health services in South Africa and Kenya, with results validated by leading Universities, including WITS, UCT, and John Hopkins.
“Aviro Pocket Clinic supports patients to achieve concrete health outcomes through carefully crafted medical content and proven user flows, that deliver the right support at the right time, managed and delivered through a multi-channel platform (web, app, WhatsApp chatbot).
“With robust data and analytics capabilities, and built around a comprehensive scientific framework for behaviour change, that is complemented with empathetic human-centred design, the platform promises an innovative and efficient way for providers to get verifiable outcomes, without having to be with the patient through the entire care pathway. This allows them to focus on the cases that require more specialised in-person support, and to improve their overall health impact on tight budgets,” it said.
Aviro Health chief executive Musaed Abrahams said: “Covid-19 has highlighted and magnified the pre-existing urgency for health providers to find ways to effectively communicate with patients in digital and semi-automated ways, reducing routine interactions and allowing health workers to serve 10x more patients, while making accessing care friendly and easier for patients. This funding will allow us to expand the flexibility and scalability of our service, so that as we grow, we are able to effectively and securely support multiple health providers, and new care pathways.”
Edge Growth's Alex Rodrigues said the ASISA ESD Fund, through ASISA’s Enterprise and Supplier (ESD) initiative, is glad to welcome Aviro Health into its portfolio of investee companies.
“Given South Africa’s and, indeed, the world’s rapid advancement in the 4IR, and the pivotal role that technology plays in a post-pandemic world, the deal team is excited to be a partner in Aviro Health’s mission and journey, towards improving quality of life and the efficiency of care provision, by supporting patients through self-care pathways, such as testing, reporting, and linkage to care,” said Rodrigues.
IOL TECH