A Rwandan startup called Viebeg has developed a business-to-business (B2B) platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and data to make the procurement of medical equipment and supplies easier and safer.
Established in 2018, Viebeg’s “VieProcure” platform provides healthcare providers with a free, data-driven procurement solution. This includes hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and more.
Tobias Reiter, co-founder and CEO of the startup, claims that it facilitates an open and effective procurement process by doing away with labour-intensive manual procedures and giving healthcare providers access to a wide variety of products through the internet.
The platform is complete with Viebeg’s Health Demand Simulation Model (HDSM) as an adjunct. By analysing demographic and public health data, the HDSM determines where healthcare infrastructure is lacking by comparing the supply of medical services and equipment in a given area with the demand for those services and equipment.
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According to Reiter’s speculation, the model incorporates predictive analytics to foretell not only the profitability of medical equipment but also the credit score of every healthcare provider in a given area. Healthcare facilities can use this data to make better investment decisions, target specific diseases, and improve healthcare system efficiency.
Viebeg works with both internal and external financing partners to provide equipment financing.
Clients are linked to financing partners through the company’s credit scoring algorithm for equipment financing, which uses the HDSM to make informed lending decisions.
Viebeg milestones
Beginning in Rwanda, Viebeg has now expanded to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and supplies over a thousand healthcare facilities with dental, laboratory, and general hospital equipment, as well as medical consumables, pharmacies, and clinics. Its rivals offer similar products; what makes this one different?
Additionally, the CEO emphasised that their company’s data-driven platform streamlines procurement increases transparency, and connects manufacturers and suppliers directly to healthcare providers, in contrast to traditional local suppliers and intermediaries who merely stock medical products without optimising their procurement process.
By combining the HDSM with the procurement platform, their clients are able to de-risk their supply chains in difficult environments and gain access to new markets by optimising their procurement decisions and handling every step of the medical supply chain, from analysing the health demand and the profitability of a particular health service or piece of medical equipment to payment with flexible terms and storage.
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How funding has helped the startup
In 2022, it was reported that in just six months after receiving funding from the Rwanda Innovation Fund, Viebeg saw a twelvefold increase in yearly revenue, going from $80,000 to $180,000. Musyoka anticipates that by the year’s end of 2022, the sum will have increased to $2.5 million.
With the help of venture capitalists, impact investors, and debt investors like Norrsken, Global Ventures, Sanofi impact Fund, Founders Factory Africa, Global Ventures, and Beyond Capital Ventures, the startup has amassed over $4 million in equity and debt funding. Its product reach has exceeded two million people, and it has sold over 400,000 medical products.
In the next two to four years, Reiter said, the business will likely expand to Tanzania, Malawi, and Uganda.
