Zoie Health completes pre-seed round to finance development & expansion

E Squared Investments, an impact investor, took part in a HealthTech deal managed by 4DX Ventures for a pre-seed extension fundraising round for Zoie Health. An established network of users and medical professionals make up the women's health services-focused Zoie Health platform. The portal provides resources, a community of women to support one another through healthcare seasons, virtual consultations, at-home consultations, subscriptions for drugs, and other services.

Roche estimates that 90% of healthcare choices are made by women, yet there are few programmes available to help young working-class women, pregnant women, and moms take charge of their healthcare requirements. These services are often (1) too expensive (private sector), (2) of inferior quality (public sector), (3) fragmented, or, (4) inefficient with no dedicated or centralised focus.

With the money, Zoie Health hopes to expand into more African nations and create the first digital clinic for women's health on the continent. 

"The founding team at Zoie Health is not just very skilled in this area; what is even more remarkable is that the team is entirely comprised of black women. In terms of values alignment and financial rewards, we think the high-impact digital solution being developed by this outstanding team will be a fantastic addition to our portfolio of businesses.” According to Gladwyn Leeuw, chief investment officer of E Squared, "the agreement represents an expansion of E Squared's first finance and entrepreneurial assistance through the E Squared Pathways facility.”

According to Gladwyn, "Through this agreement, we seek to support digital innovation in women's health care and provide working-class women with high-quality, affordable healthcare. We believe that the digital component will increase accessibility to services that have historically been difficult to access and offer a practical substitute for those who cannot afford to miss work, wait hours in queue at government clinics, or find the cost of accessing private sector healthcare prohibitive.”

By effectively using network effects, relatability, and belonging, Zoie's cheap digital solution presently serves more than 5,000 members with an 80% subscriber retention rate. Despite being a new company, they have already signed up 50 health professionals and have a 9.78 out of 10 customer satisfaction rating.

Thato Schermer, co-founder and CEO of Zoie Health, states, "We believe that our offering has great potential to scale, and we will be looking to expand to other African emerging markets in the SADC region, as well as Kenya and Nigeria."

This all-encompassing solution covers genuine health intervention services including pap smear, pregnancy tests, contraception, fertility, at-home consultations, subscriptions for drugs, virtual consultations, and at-home consultations. A chatbot for general guidance, pre- and post-natal care, family care, community support groups, and general wellness value additions are all included in the package, which is geared towards women.

There was never any question that Thato Schermer, the company's creator and a 2015 Allan Grey Orbis Foundation Fellow, would go on to build an influential company like Zoie Health. Thato was the runner-up in 2014 after winning the Allan Grey Orbis Foundation's "Most Entrepreneurial Fellow Award" twice in 2012 and 2013, according to Sipho Pilime, the company's head of search and pipeline.

Thato's interest in improving healthcare in South Africa and the continent inspired her to look into unmet medical needs. In 2015, while working in management consulting at McKinsey, she started to investigate how applying contemporary methods might help improve health outcomes in Africa. Because of this passion, she consciously chose positions like global strategy and business development lead and chief of staff to the CEO of Life Healthcare (Global) and Discovery Vitality.

In 2019 Thato asked E Squared for assistance with a start-up concept. At this point, E Squared started talking with her and joined her journey of personal growth and development as a young entrepreneur.

Thato was unable to join E Squared's then full-time accelerator due to an opportunity provided by Uber SA as Territory Manager for two years. She later enrolled in Pathways in 2020, an iteration of the E Squared acceleration programme that offers Allan Grey founders of start-up ventures individualised support on both a full- and part-time basis. This programme accommodates a founder's need to continue to earn alternate income while validating and refining their business ventures.

In 2019 Thato asked E Squared for assistance with a start-up concept. At this point, E Squared started talking with her and joined her journey of personal growth and development as a young entrepreneur.

Thato was unable to join E Squared's then full-time accelerator due to an opportunity provided by Uber SA as Territory Manager for two years. She later enrolled in Pathways in 2020, an iteration of the E Squared acceleration programme that offers Allan Grey founders of start-up ventures individualised support on both a full- and part-time basis. This programme accommodates a founder's need to continue to earn alternate income while validating and refining their business ventures.

Dr. Nono Simelela, the Special Advisor to the Director General on Strategic Programmatic Priorities at the World Health Organisation, and Florah Chuene, their Lead Engineer, round out the team. This all-black leadership group of women has a great enthusiasm for Zoie Health's mission and brings both clinical and technological know-how to the table.