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Villgro Kenya has added Kenyan e-health startups Maisha Meds and Turaco to its portfolio, offering them grant funding and incubation support to help them grow and increase access to healthcare for low-income communities.

Disrupt Africa reported in February of last year the India-based Villgro Innovations Foundation had launched an incubator for early-stage businesses in the healthcare and life sciences sector in Nairobi.

In India, Villgro works with early-stage for-profit social enterprises that have an impact on the lives of the poor, incubating companies in sectors such as education, health, energy and agriculture. Villgro Kenya is a health-focused incubator offering mentoring, funding and access to networks.

After backing two Ugandan companies earlier this year, Villgro has now provided grants to two from Kenya. Maisha Meds, a software platform for ensuring that rural pharmacists and clinicians effectively purchase quality affordable medicines and pass on subsidies to patients, received US$40,000, which comes with mentorship and technical expertise to develop its business model and scale.

Turaco, which offers health loans bundled with insurance so clients can receive care whenever a medical emergency arises, also received US$40,000 in grant funding.

Maisha Meds chief executive officer (CEO) Jessica Vernon expressed her excitement to join Villgro Kenya’s incubation programme.

“The mission of Maisha Meds is to develop systems to improve access to high quality and affordable medicines. We are incredibly excited to work with Villgro in this mission, and have heard wonderful things about the support that Villgro provides companies working to scale health technologies in East Africa,” she said.

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