To improve health services in Uganda, Dr. Davis Musinguzi created a telemedicine platform called Rocket Health. His start-up recently raised US$5 million for its East African expansion.
Dr. Davis Musinguzi (photo) is a Ugandan HealthTech entrepreneur with a degree in healthcare management. Almost all of his career in digital health was spent with UNICEF, through which he designed, managed, and evaluated health informatics and technology programs for ministries of health, international organizations, and academic institutions. In 2006, he entered the entrepreneurial world with the sale of nutritional supplements. He later co-designed WinSenga, a mobile app that can be used to scan pregnant women for complications. In 2012, WinSenga won him and his co-developers the Microsoft Imagine Cup.
After his appearance on the TV Show Inspire Africa, he won US$50,000 startup financing from the Warid Entrepreneurship Fund to launch The Medical Concierge Group (TMCG), the startup managing Rocket Health Africa Corp since 2012.
His startup was created to improve the health services provided to Ugandans by developing a platform through which they could have an early prognosis. Partnering with John Mark Bwanika, Fiona Nuwamanya, Hope Achiro, and William Lubega, all from the healthcare industry, Davis Musinguzi launched Rocket Health, a telemedicine platform.
Using artificial intelligence, Rocket Health offers customized health services, teleconsultations with doctors, last-mile drug delivery, swabs collection, and lab result delivery. It also offers digital health consulting and research for health institutions and projects in Africa.
At first, clients and potential staff members were reluctant about Rocket Health since they were not familiar with the telemedicine concept, Davis Musinguzi indicates. However, through referrals, the platform quickly reached an extended client base. The entrepreneur now employs about 30 physicians who provide services to 40,000 clients registered on the Rocket Health platform. With the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for the services offered by the platform climbed to a record 400,000 virtual consultations yearly.
Dr. Davis Musinguzi’s achievement in the digital health space has been praised by Google, Microsoft, Ashoka, Alibaba, UNCTAD, the Commonwealth, Ericsson, ADB, and Deutsche Telekom, among others. In early March, Rocket Health raised US$5 million in Series A funding to expand its telemedicine service in Africa. The funding round was led by Creadev, an investment firm, with participation from African investors like Grenfell Holdings and LoftyInc Capital Management.
The new funding brings to US$6.2 million the overall financial resources raised for Rocket Health. For Davis Musinguzi, the next step in Rocket Health’s African expansion is East Africa, starting with Kenya.
Aïsha Moyouzame
