Africa | November 28, 2018

Gray Matters’ gender fund backs Nigerian maternal care venture SonoCare

Jessica Pothering
ImpactAlpha Editor

Jessica Pothering

ImpactAlpha, November 27 – SonoCare, a Nigerian maternal and infant care venture, has raised an undisclosed amount of early stage funding from Gray Matter’s gender-focused coLABS fund.

SonoCare launched in 2015 to address maternal and infant mortality rates in Africa, which remain the highest in the world, in spite of significant improvements in recent years. The company provides low-cost mobile-based medical imaging and diagnostics. To date, it has screened over 26,000 women in Nigeria, many from rural communities where mortality rates are higher than cities, and detected over 15,000 high-risk pregnancies. It also claims to have saved patients more than $625,000.

Gray Matters Capital invested in SonoCare via its $5 million coLABS fund, whose mission is to seed ventures that “have the potential to dramatically improve the lives of women and girls around the world.” The fund makes investments of up to $250,000.

SonoCare is coLABS’s second health tech investment in Africa, following a July investment in Ghana-based RedBird. SonoCare will use the capital to develop its mobile app, increase its number of mobile units and reach 200,000 expectant mothers by 2020.