Vieprocure - making medical supplies affordable and accessible

We de-risk and optimize medical supply by making sure that hospitals always have the right products to treat their patients. 

TOBIAS REITER CEO

As an AI enthusiast and entrepreneur who previously built an AI-based trading software, Tobias developed the vision to use AI predictions to serve people’s health needs.

In developing countries, every minute five people die because of limited capacity of medical care. Medical supply shortage due to weak infrastructure and poor inventory management / procurement are the biggest culprits.

People in remote areas have to move long distances to access proper health services and often die because they cannot even afford the journey.

Even though only 17 % of the world’s population live in Africa, Africa shares 30% of the world’s disease burden. 67% of disease-related deaths can be attributed to preventable causes and the broken supply chain of medical supply in Africa. More than 50% of Africans don‘t have access to decent medical supply in part because they live in places that are hard to serve with traditional methods. 

Accessibility and affordability are still the biggest challenge to healthcare delivery in Africa, given broken supply chain, the financial constrains and poor stock management by private and public healthcare providers.

Healthcare facilities often make procurement decisions based on their gut feelings, leading to both, excessive overstocking of certain medical supplies and at the same time dramatic stock-outs of essential medical products.

Our solution serves people in developing countries who don't have access to affordable healthcare because of limited medical supply. After having served Africans in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo for the past two years, we have identified the target population to be low-income individuals and families in remote areas who have to move long distances to access proper health services and often die because they cannot even afford the journey. Healthcare providers in remote  areas in developing countries ofter don't have the financial capacity to stock all the required products and have to wait for days, if not weeks, for adequate medical supply, making it impossible to offer decent treatment to their patients. The people who suffer the most from limited medical supply are the poorest who cannot afford traveling to advanced hospitals with good infrastructure. Our AI-powered solution makes sure that a minimum quantity of each medical product that is needed, is always available at affordable prices. This will enable remote healthcare providers to be able to offer their services at lower prices, thus increasing their revenue and ultimately, serving the low income population in remote areas, eliminating the need to travel long distance in order to be treated. 

Our solution serves people in developing countries who don't have access to affordable healthcare because of limited medical supply. After having served Africans in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo for the past two years, we have identified the target population to be low-income individuals and families in remote areas who have to move long distances to access proper health services and often die because they cannot even afford the journey. Healthcare providers in remote  areas in developing countries ofter don't have the financial capacity to stock all the required products and have to wait for days, if not weeks, for adequate medical supply, making it impossible to offer decent treatment to their patients. The people who suffer the most from limited medical supply are the poorest who cannot afford traveling to advanced hospitals with good infrastructure. Our AI-powered solution makes sure that a minimum quantity of each medical product that is needed, is always available at affordable prices. This will enable remote healthcare providers to offer their services at lower prices, thus increasing their revenue and ultimately, serving the low income population in remote areas, eliminating the need to travel long distance in order to be treated. 

By providing hospitals with our AI-powered solution, the short-term outcome will be increased transparency for healthcare providers when it comes to procurement. Products can be easily procured online without having to contact every single supplier in the country until you find the products needed. Moreover, our inventory management software helps healthcare providers to improve stock keeping and automatically supplies products before they go out of stock. As a result, hospitals will have more funds available (improved inventory management) with which they can hire additional nurses and doctors and a wider product range, which will lead to better quality of healthcare services in Sub Saharan Africa.

More importantly, though, are long-term outcomes. By using our solution, hospitals will be able to make more accurate procurement decisions, thus making quality healthcare accessible all over Africa, especially in rural areas that are extremely underserved in Africa. Furthermore, by linking hospitals to the manufacturers, cutting out the middle men, healthcare will become more affordable. 

2021:

-Revenue of 1.500.000 USD. 

 -Finish Seed Round with 1.000.000 USD by September 2021

(We already have a confirmed investor who brought additional 3 leads)

 -Total number of customers: 450 

 -Total Products: 2000 products 

 -Total Suppliers: 45 

 -Exclusive distributorship: 10 

2022:

Revenue of 7.000.000 USD. Expand to Kenya; Increase our existing market share in Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo

 Total number of customers: 1000; products: 2500 -Total Suppliers: 70-Exclusive distributorship: 10

 -Finish Series A round for 4.000.000 USD 

2023:

-Revenue of 17.500.000 USD. Expand to Zambia, Cameroon and Botswana 

Total number of customers: 2500

-Total products: 3000 -Total suppliers: 80 -Exclusive distributorship: 15 -Technology: Version4 of VieProcure, Web & Mobile App used by 1700 healthcare providers to request and buy products; Languages: English, French and Swahili; Software links hospitals directly to manufacturers and local suppliers (SAAS). 90% of our sales come from SAAS, 10% come from our own inventory.

2024:

-Revenue of 30.000.000 USD 

-Expand to Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola 

Total number of customers: 5000 -Total products: 10000 Total suppliers: 100 Finish Series B round for 25.000.000 USD 

1.) Accessibility of medical supplies:

We are constantly measuring the increase in accessibility of medical supplies for healthcare providers in the regions that we are working in. We have seen that by offering our solution, we have increased accessibility of medical supplies by 40% in total. For some categories of medical supplies, f.e. consumables, we have increased the supply by 70%, for dental products even by 80%. This accessibility is measured through discovery interviews and statistics on the local medical supplies market.  

2.) Affordability of medical supplies:

Given our efficient, data-driven supply chain and thanks to economies of scale, we have been able to reduce prices of medical supplies by 30%, thereby enabling healthcare providers to expand their product range and improve their stock levels.

-Financial: Receiving payments from hospitals on time; avoiding payment defaults and fraud

-Technical: Building an AI-powered solution that can precisely predict the usage of medical products in hard-to-serve markets, such as DR Congo, given the infrastructure problems, potential civil unrest, logistics and other factors that are difficult to predict. We want to use AI to predict the unpredictable and HI to predict the predictable. 

-Cultural: Acceptance of using software to procure products online instead of having personal interactions with sales representatives. Creating an understanding of the importance of technology on improving efficiency will may be a challenge, but the increased adoption of software in Africa is giving us optimism.

-Legal: A license for a pharmaceutical wholesale company has to be obtained in every market that we want to operate in. So far, we have succeeded to do so in every market. As long as procedures are followed, the license will be obtained but the process usually takes 6-12 months. 

So far, we are not yet partnering with other organisations. However, we are working with other organisations that help us with product development, such as USAID, Partners in Health and Alight (American Refugee Committee) that are also our customers and share the same goals and vision.

We believe that The Trinity Challenge can help us make our solution more impactful, given the huge tech expertise, product expertise and scientific knowledge of the team. Together, we will improve the product and our AI strategy. Demonstrating the importance of digital, data-driven inventory management and procurement will lead to higher technology adoption and a more efficient medical supply chain.

Moreover, having such a renowned partner will enable us to increase our network of suppliers and financial institutions/partners and thus raise accessibility of medical supplies in the regions that we serve.

Given the economies of scale and efficiency of our supply chain that we can achieve together, we can make medical supplies more affordable and enable healthcare providers to increase their stock levels, avoid stockouts and focus on what really matters: treating patients and saving lives!

Google: Buiilding/Improving our AI on the Google Cloud in partnership with Google ML engineers, data scientists and experts.

University of Cambridge, Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation, LSE, Imperial College London, Northeastern University, HKU Med, McKinsey & Company: Developing strong business models, impact-driven strategies, data sharing/ collaboration; benefiting from their network, industry insights & research

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: strategic partnerships, funding, advisors & experts