Kenya

MPharma buys Haltons

MPharma, the six-year old Ghanaian startup that manages prescription drug inventory for pharmacies and their suppliers, is buying Kenya’s second-largest pharmacy chain, Haltons, in an unprecedented deal for the African startup ecosystem.The transaction, which sees mPharma enter the East Africa regional market for the first time, means the young company will take control of the 20 Haltons stores spilt between Nairobi and Mombasa. The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, comes as mPharma works on completing a $12 million Series B funding round led by 4DX Ventures, an Accra/San Francisco venture capital firm, and Nairobi-based Novastar Ventures. So far it has confirmed $9.7 million and the full round is expected to be completed in a couple of weeks with other investors including Unbound Ventures, the VC arm of India’s Bharti Mittal Family office, early Facebook investor Jim Breyer and former Novartis chief executive Daniel Vasella, who has joined MPharma’s board. The startup raised $6.6 million in Nov 2017 after raising a seed round of $5 million in 2015.

By: Greg rockson