Rwanda’s Viebeg uses AI to optimize the purchase of medical equipment.
A Rwandan business called Viebeg provides medical products and equipment via a data-driven, AI-powered B2B platform that optimizes and reduces risk in the purchase of medical supplies and equipment.
Viebeg, an online platform called “VieProcure,” was founded in 2018 and provides hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and other healthcare institutions with a free, data-driven procurement solution.
The CEO and co-founder of the firm, Tobias Reiter, told Disrupt Africa that “it enables a transparent and efficient procurement process, allowing healthcare providers to select from a diverse product range online, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual processes.”
The Health Demand Simulation Model (HDSM) by Viebeg is an addition to the platform. The HDSM evaluates the present supply of medical equipment and services in a given area and compares it to the demand for healthcare in that area in order to detect gaps in the region’s healthcare infrastructure. This is done using data on public health and demographics.
The algorithm also projects each health care provider’s credit score in a given area and the profitability of medical equipment using predictive analytics. Reiter stated that health care facilities can use this data to target particular diseases, make well-informed investment decisions, and improve the effectiveness of the healthcare system.
Apart from offering equipment finance internally, Viebeg collaborates with other financial partners.
Reiter stated, “For this reason, our equipment financing credit scoring algorithm links clients to financing partners, leveraging the HDSM for informed lending decisions.”
Viebeg began in Rwanda and has since spread to Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Viebeg currently offers medical supplies, dentistry, laboratory, and general hospital equipment and consumables to over 1,000 hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and healthcare providers. But what makes it different from its rivals?
Reiter stated, “We supply medical products through our data-driven platform that makes procurement efficient, transparent, and links suppliers and manufacturers directly to healthcare providers. Unlike traditional local suppliers and middlemen, who just distribute medical products in-store without procurement optimization.”
“By taking care of every single aspect of the medical supply chain, from analyzing health demand and the profitability of a particular health service or piece of medical equipment, to shipping and storage, to payment with flexible payment terms, we de-risk supply in difficult environments and open up new markets for our customers.” This is made possible by our procurement platform and HDSM.
The startup has sold over 400,000 medical products with an estimated reach of two million people, and has raised more than US$4 million in equity and debt from VCs, impact investors, and debt investors, including J&J Foundation, Sanofi impact Fund, Founders Factory Africa, Global Ventures, Beyond Capital Ventures, and Norrsken.
“We are planning to expand to Uganda, Tanzania, and potentially Malawi in the coming 2-4 years,” said Reiter.
