- April 19, 2021
- Posted by: Aruwa
- Category: Investments
Aruwa Capital Management (“Aruwa”), an early-stage growth equity and gender lens fund investing in Nigeria and Ghana, is pleased to announce an investment into Lifestores Healthcare Limited (“Lifestores” or the “Company”), a tech-enabled pharmacy platform democratising access to primary healthcare.
Lifestores, founded in 2017 operates a chain of retail pharmacies in Lagos as well as providing technology-enabled services to its network of over 100 affiliate pharmacies. The Company’s own pharmacies and the pharmacies on its affiliate network are enabled by the Company’s proprietary innovative software; PharmIQ.
PharmIQ encompasses a cloud-based ERP software that optimises inventory management and customer loyalty, in addition to a B2B group purchasing e-commerce marketplace; OGApharmacy. OGApharmacy provides access to genuine, high-quality drugs at a discounted price.
Bryan Mezue, CEO & Co-Founder of Lifestores said: “We are very excited to partner with the Aruwa team, and we appreciate their vote of confidence in our business. We look forward to working together to execute our vision of democratising access to primary healthcare. Our vision for the Company is to evolve into a business model driven by the mass adoption of our proprietary software; PharmIQ by pharmacies across Nigeria and Africa. This investment will take us closer to our long-term goals and enable the exponential growth of our pharmacy affiliate network.”
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder & Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital added: We are excited to have completed this investment in Lifestores. We see significant value in the Company’s long term growth potential within the rapidly growing African pharmaceutical market and the benefits brought by its proprietary technology to this fragmented sector. The Company has also shown significant top-line growth in 2020 and is well-positioned to transform access to primary healthcare in our markets.
“In addition, in line with Aruwa’s gender lens investing strategy, approximately 50% of the pharmacies on the Company’s marketplace are owned by women, 40% of the senior management team are women and data shows that women control about 80% of healthcare spending in households. We remain committed to increasing the participation of women across all levels of society through our investments. We look forward to working with the team and contributing to their continued success.”
About Lifestores – http://lifestorespharmacy.com/
Lifestores intends to disrupt the fragmented and rapidly growing retail pharmacy sector by being an ecosystem enabler that connects the different parties in the industry through its innovative proprietary software.