Backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Axmed has secured additional $2 million to transform access to critical medicines in low- and middle-income countries. Its two-sided B2B marketplace bridges the gap between pharmaceutical manufacturers/suppliers and healthcare providers, ensuring a steady, affordable supply of critical medicines. The capital will fuel further development, leading to the launch in selected markets in Africa and the Caribbean.
Despite representing over 80% of the world's population, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) account for a mere 6% of global pharmaceutical revenue, yet they represent a burgeoning $140 billion sector, with Africa alone accounting for over $43 billion in pharmaceutical opportunity. One of the primary factors contributing to this disparity is that buyers in these regions typically place orders of smaller quantities, which are less appealing to manufacturers.
Ambitioned to tackle this challenge, Emmanuel Akpakwu, former Chief Commercial Officer for Novartis AG's Sub-Saharan Africa operations, was joined by Felix Ohnmacht and Sofia Radley-Searle, who have held key positions at Novartis and GSK. Leveraging over 30 years of collective experience in healthcare, finance, and public-private partnerships, they established Axmed during their studies at Havard, to provide a B2B marketplace platform that allows for equitable access to high quality medications in emerging and growth markets.
The startup achieves this by optimizing the procurement process for healthcare providers, catering to public, third sector, and private entities. The platform aggregates demand for both off-patent and patented medicines, creating larger, more cost-effective order volumes for manufacturers while simultaneously enhancing buyer leverage on cost and availability. The platform further streamlines the process by curating and consolidating Requests for Proposals and efficiently mapping out supply logistics. This approach creates a win-win outcome: it lowers the barriers to accessing costly medicines for patients and providers, while enabling manufacturers to expand their footprint in underserved markets.
Seed funding to accelerate time-to-market
The closing of a $2 million seed funding round led by Founderful complements an earlier $5 million in grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, bringing total funds raised to $7 million. The investment propels Axmed into its next phase of strategic expansion, driving significant advancements in building out the engineering and business development teams, whilst preparing the platform for launch. Through targeted deployment of funds, Axmed will enhance its marketplace technology and forge alliances with key healthcare stakeholders to ensure a reliable supply of critical medicines. Currently, the startup has garnered the attention of around 20 suppliers and 20 pharma manufacturers.
While preparing for its market launch, Axmed is also in the process of transferring it headquarters to Basel, Switzerland, where CEO Emmanuel Akpakwu and CCO Felix Ohnmacht are currently based. The Boston office that was established in 2023 will become the company’s subsidiary. Alongside the core team of four, Axmed has a total of 16 employees based in different countries, including Kenya, Egypt and others.
(Press release/RAN)
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