CardinalStone Capital Advisers Supports AfyA Care With $6m in Funding

AfyA Care’s Series A capital round will include a $6 million investment by CardinalStone Capital Advisers (CCA), a manager of a West African private equity fund.

In Nigeria, a healthcare organization called AfyA Treatment offers integrated healthcare services such as hospital care, health insurance, and health technology services. The investment exemplifies CCA’s goal of supporting high-potential growth companies that may both have a good impact on communities and provide investors with long-term, attractive returns.

According to an EY report, Nigeria’s healthcare system is severely underdeveloped, with a patient-to-bed ratio of 2,000:1 as opposed to the peer average of 1,000:1 and a low health insurance penetration of 5%.

Over the next five years, AfyA Care is well-positioned to take advantage of these market prospects by first solidifying the Lagos market before expanding to important cities in Nigeria and West Africa. In order to transform healthcare delivery in Nigeria and beyond, the firm will use the funds to strengthen its skilled talent pool, expand its hospital brands, scale its Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and develop its own health tech solutions.

Femi Ogunjimi, Collaborate at CardinalStone Capital Advisers, comments on the investment: “We are always eager to partner with businesses that have demonstrated the ability to disrupt and alter sectors. It was crucial to work with people that have a thorough understanding of the sector, the urgency and scope of the issue, and are well-equipped to put in the work to deliver the results given the enormous gaps in healthcare provision in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa more generally. We are eager to help the AfyA Care team in their efforts to create a healthcare ecosystem for various market segments and are interested in where the company will be in five years.

AfyA Care was established in 2019 with a mission to improve access to and the cost of healthcare in Nigeria. AfyA Care is developing vertically integrated healthcare institutions and optimizing delivery models that serve its target market segments by aggregating hospital capacity and demand. It targets low-mid and mid-high-end hospitals, health insurance, and health tech businesses. To cater to its low-to-mid market customers, the company maintains a network of hospitals with 215 beds under the R-Jolad Hospital name. To serve the mid-high end market, it is also building a 140-bed hospital under the proposed Oakwood Medical Centre brand.

Tosin Runsewe, CEO of AfyA Care, comments on the new cooperation with CCA: “We are pleased to announce our partnership with CardinalStone Capital Advisers. CCA has been crucial in gaining the money to increase capacity as well as in providing their experience to carry out the AfyA Care goal. We are thrilled to be working with a company that supports our mission to improve the future of healthcare in Nigeria and beyond. Our ambitions for expansion are underpinned by decades of experience across industries.

Health service providers including EROM Diagnostics, Octosoft (health-tech), and Bastion HMO are currently managed by AfyA Care (health insurance).

The fourth investment by CCA from its $64 million CCA Growth Fund (CCAGF), which focuses on growth-stage SMEs in Nigeria and Ghana, was made in AfyA Care. Its portfolio also includes the businesses i-Fitness, Appzone, and Quality Foods Africa.