The government’s data sidekick

• An Ebola crisis in 2014 spurred Jonathan Stambolis into action. As a former diplomat with the United Nations, he witnessed firsthand how developing countries struggled to respond to humanitarian emergencies and public health crises. He also saw a gap, and that’s technology innovation.
• Jonathan responded by founding 500-backed big data startup Zenysis Technologies. Today, the company just secured US$13.3 million in a Series B round led by the Steele Foundation for Hope, a non-profit organization focused on finding and funding lasting solutions for some of “humanity’s hardest challenges”.
• Zenysis’ mission is to deliver software that governments need to fight disease outbreaks, respond to large-scale emergencies, and provide healthcare to their citizens equitably and efficiently.
• Currently, the company serves governments and partners in 9 countries across Africa, South America, and Asia. It plans to triple its geographical footprint over the next two years, and invest in strategic partnerships that contribute to its technology and talent development.
• “We’re also going to be making investments to help the countries understand and respond to the complex relationship between climate change and human health,” Jonathan added. “This is still an area that is very much in its infancy. So, we want to be at the forefront of helping countries get on top of that in a data-driven way.”
• Congratulations to the Zenysis team!
• Read the full story on TechCrunch.

Boosting local healthcare with AI

• Artificial intelligence will soon be assisting pharmacy professionals, thanks to a new partnership between 500-backed digital health company SwipeRx and benshi.ai’s machine learning platform.
• The goal? To ensure that every pharmacy is well-stocked with essential drugs, and that each pharmacist has the right information at the right time to better assist their patients.
• This prevents pharmacies from running out of a certain drug or test kit due to sudden demand surges related to an evolving local health situation. The partnership will also optimize the efficiency and value of drug purchases for SwipeRx users.
• Founder & CEO of SwipeRx, Farouk Meralli, said, “With benshi.ai’s powerful platform and our massive data sets, we have the opportunity to create an even better future for patients across Southeast Asia through our pharmacy network. This is a real world, practical application of artificial intelligence to radically improve the quality, affordability, and availability of medicine.”
• Read the full announcement here.

Holistic healthcare for the future

• “Our plans aim to reduce subscriber bills on healthcare to zero and make healthcare more meaningful and holistic,” said Bhavjot Kaur, Co-founder of healthtech startup Clinikk.
• Clinikk started out bundling primary care telehealth with financial protection for gig economy workers. They later launched 5 physical centers called Clinikk Health Hubs. Today, the team has expanded to 16 physical centers and launched a flagship plan where subscribers get access to free and unlimited doctor consultations at Clinikk Health Hubs and through teleconsultations.
• Clinikk sets itself apart by also providing health financing. “While one aspect of our proposition is aimed at value-based care to derive better health outcomes for individuals, the other proposition makes healthcare extremely affordable and easily accessible. Together this makes for a healthcare plan that brings various aspects of healthcare, such as doctor consults, pharmacy, diagnostics, and even hospitalization under one roof through a subscription,” Bhavjot explained.
• “The future of health insurance should not only stop at making hospitalization affordable or the cover more comprehensive, but also focus on keeping customers healthy and out of hospitals,” she added. “Digitization and structured data will make it possible for health-tech, insure-tech companies to offer end-to-end care and also collate and maintain longitudinal data that will significantly improve customer experience with healthcare and overall health outcomes through timely interventions and preventive care.”
• Read the full interview on Entrepreneur.