Villgro Kenya Set to Fund Startups with Covid-19 Innovations

• Villgro Kenya is calling startups with innovations that will help tackle the Covid-19 outbreak, to apply for funding.
• The application for Villgro’s funding closes on the 15th of April.
• Villgro will be screening innovative ideas on the themes of personal protective equipment, screening and testing, Emergency and health response system, amongst others.

Kenyan Impact investor, Villgro is offering to fund African startups with innovations that will help in treating, testing, monitoring or providing solutions to other aspects of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Villgro Kenya, founded in 2015 by the India’s Villgro Innovations Foundation, supports healthcare and life science startups in the East African region. It works to turn product and process innovations into viable and scalable enterprises which affect those at the pyramid base. In March 2020, Villgro awarded $60, 000 to East African Edhealth Startups.

In further response to the Covid-19 outbreak, Villgro proposes a strategy where government, academia and the private sector join together to support local developments that can be replicated across the continent and invites potential partner organizations to join its new initiative. This informs Its decision to fund startups with inventions and developments that could help to diagnose, study and track the Covid-19 outbreak.

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In a statement on its website, the investor said it has allocated about $650 000 in seed finance to companies in the East African region to date. These investments have catalyzed more than $7.5 million in subsequent investments thus improving over a million people’s lives.

Villgro Kenya is seeking to back African startups with ideas that could help combat the Covid-19 outbreak. In Nairobi, new cases of coronavirus were confirmed bringing the total number of cases reported to 179. After a review of 305 samples over a 24-hour span, the seven new cases have been confirmed.

Villgro Kenya invites Sub-Saharan African startups with inventions and developments that might help with the diagnosis, research, tracking or other aspects of the Covid-19 outbreak. Villgro also stated that it will be closing applications on the 15th of  April.

The key areas for which Villgro will be accepting innovations are:

• Personal protective equipment
• Screening and testing
• Emergency and health response system including infection prevention and control
• Medical devices and commodities
• Medical supply chain strengthening