HealthDart

Our research shows that when unwell, 80% of South Africans start with the wrong health professional (due to lack of information at the time of need) and pay 70% more than they should when accessing care.

Furthermore, 50% of South Africans visit the pharmacy at least once a month, but 74% of them report that they do not shop around to ensure they are getting the best and most cost-effective medication to solve their health issue. 

HealthDart is a South African Healthtech company that is creating a future of easy and affordable access to primary healthcare for the African middle market (Earning $11 per day and above).

The company operates as a “digital pharmacy-clinic”, that uses AI and strategic health insurance partnerships to help patients quickly and cheaply solve basic health issues.

HealthDart operates with a pharmacy centric “Payvidor” model, in which patients are empowered to complete end-to-end health journeys i.e. go from screening/triage, to consult, to medication access seamlessly in one place; as well as access embedded insurance to help pay for the care that is needed. This is in line with global trends of pharmacies operating as integrated centres of care for primary health.

Through the HealthDart app, patients can find the quickest and cheapest way to solve basic health issues, as follows: 

1. Submit AI driven health screenings to find the right care to solve health issues.
2. Book in virtual and physical consultations with nurses and doctors. 
3. Buy medication or fulfil prescriptions for delivery to their door (work or home). 
4. Buy low-cost health insurance products for use at over 5,000 health practices across South Africa. 

Ultimately, our platform makes sure that patients can get the treatment they require at a cost-effective price in one place without any hassle whatsoever. 

Through experimentation and customer validation, we have identified two key, high-value, customer personas: 

1. Chronic patients: patients with simple chronic conditions who are looking for cost-effective ways to manage their healthcare.
2. Family managers: females aged between 30-50 who manage and pay for the healthcare for several younger and older dependants.

These customer personas spend significant monthly disposable income inefficiently navigating care and having to pay for expensive unexpected/catastrophic health costs for themselves and others under their care.

We are a founding team that is passionate about and experienced in developing financial and healthcare solutions for the African market. We are inspired by innovating and shaking up the market in a way that hasn't been achieved to date. Not only that, but we collectively have over 20 years experience in: (1) developing and designing apps, and digital engagement tools in the healthcare and financial services sectors; (2) designing and deploying solutions that save healthcare costs in transactional and insured health systems; and (3) building health networks at a national level. We draw on this experience significantly to achieve our goals. 

Further to the above, we have closely proximity to the communities we serve with all our founding team members having lived experience of South African townships (where most of our market resides) and closely understanding the health and financial access challenges experienced in the communities.

1,500 patients have been served since inception. We are seeking technical assistance and funding to grow this number to 100,000 by the end of 2024. 

The main barrier we are looking to solve is a technical one around how to best convey the impact of our solution from a health and financial impact perspective. 

Our innovation is a new approach to providing primary healthcare through an integrated digital platform. Our solution leverages AI-powered digital pharmacies, telemedicine, and insurance to provide patients with convenient, affordable, and high-quality primary healthcare services. Our approach differs from existing approaches in several ways. First, our platform eliminates the need for physical visits to traditional healthcare facilities, reducing the time and cost burden for patients. Second, we are able to provide a wide range of primary healthcare services through a single integrated platform, making it more user-friendly and convenient. Third, we leverage AI and data analytics to personalize care for each patient, leading to more effective treatment and better outcomes. Finally, we are able to offer our services at a lower cost than traditional healthcare providers, making primary healthcare more accessible to those who need it most. Our innovative business model and process can be scaled quickly and efficiently to provide primary healthcare services to large populations, making a significant impact on healthcare outcomes at scale.

Next year: Obtain 3rd party verified evidenced based research that we can reduce combined direct and indirect costs of primary care by 70% - with improved outcomes. 

5 Years: scale the verified impact to at least a 5 million Africans (50% in South Africa). 

All our products are geared to health and well-being (SDG 3) and reducing inequalities (SDG 10)

1. # of female users

2. # of pension age users

3. # of individuals residing in informal settlements / undocumented areas

Assumption: Improved access to affordable medications and quality healthcare services can lead to better health outcomes for underserved populations in South Africa.

Intervention: HealthDart provides an AI-Powered digital pharmacy-clinic platform that enables patients to access integrated primary healthcare in the form of affordable medication access, virtual consultations, and home-based care services.

Outcomes: By improving access to healthcare services, HealthDart aims to improve health outcomes for its users. For example, increased access to medications can help patients better manage chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension, reducing the risk of complications and hospitalizations. Virtual consultations can provide timely access to medical advice and care, reducing the burden on already-overburdened healthcare systems. Home-based care services can help patients recover more quickly from illness or injury, reducing the need for hospitalizations and improving quality of life.

Impact: Through these outcomes, HealthDart aims to improve the overall health and well-being of underserved populations in South Africa (and Africa broadly). By increasing access to affordable medications and quality healthcare services, HealthDart hopes to reduce health disparities and promote health equity in the region. In the long term, these improvements could lead to reduced healthcare costs and increased productivity, benefiting both individuals and society as a whole.

Our solution is powered by a combination of technologies including mobile applications, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Our core technology is our mobile application, which is designed to be user-friendly and accessible to all individuals regardless of their technical literacy. The mobile application serves as a platform for patients to access healthcare services, schedule appointments, and receive medication deliveries. Our cloud-based infrastructure ensures that patient data is secure and easily accessible to healthcare providers, enabling seamless communication and collaboration between patients and healthcare providers.

We are building AI and ML algorithms to enhance the patient experience by providing personalized healthcare recommendations and enabling predictive healthcare analytics.  This will help us to provide patients with targeted interventions that can help prevent or manage chronic conditions. Our solution is also designed to be scalable and adaptable, allowing us to integrate new technologies as they become available.

Overall, our core technology enables us to provide a unique and innovative approach to healthcare delivery, which leverages the power of mobile and cloud-based technologies to improve access to healthcare and provide personalized, data-driven healthcare interventions.

Our team is 100% comprised of minority ethnic groups as per US definitions.

40% of our team is female.

We are deeply committed to diversity and inclusion across the board.

We facilitate affordable, end-to-end healthcare journeys in which we operate at 60% gross income margin by charging patients for transactions (medication deliveries and health consultations) and low-cost health insurance sales.

Our customer base is primarily made up of two key personas who transact at least once a month: "Family Managers" with an average transaction value of US$38, and "Chronic Patients" with an average transaction value of US$31.

We have so far raised funds under a venture capital model and will continue using this as our primary funding model.

Overtime, if our growth targets are met, we believe we will be able to run a privately profitable and therefore sustainable business with social impact at the core of its value proposition. 

We've raised US$600K in investment so far from global investors.