A flagship accelerator backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a coalition of global health partners has scaled back its ambitions for 2025. Investing in Innovation Africa (i3), now in its third year, has selected just seven startups for its latest cohort — less than half the size of previous rounds — citing the impact of a recent U.S. government directive that suspended certain foreign aid initiatives.

The move follows a January 25, 2025 “stop-work” order issued by the U.S. State Department, part of a broader freeze on foreign assistance linked to policy priorities under the Trump administration. The decision has disrupted funding pipelines to global health initiatives across Africa, prompting i3 to narrow its focus to companies with proven capacity to deliver pharmacy care at scale.

This year’s cohort features seven growth-stage startups that are already demonstrating traction across medicine distribution, pharmacy digitisation, and pharmaceutical quality assurance:

• mPharma (Ghana) — Founded by Gregory Rockson, mPharma operates a network of franchised pharmacies across several African countries, improving access to affordable and high-quality medicines.
• Chefaa (Egypt) — Co-founded by Doaa Aref, Chefaa offers GPS-enabled prescription fulfilment and medicine delivery to chronic patients across Egypt.
• Dawa Mkononi (Tanzania) — Led by Joseph Paul, MD, the company provides a digital ordering and inventory management platform for small pharmacies in rural Kenya.
• MYDAWA (Kenya) — Headed by Priscilla Muhiu, MYDAWA is an e-pharmacy platform delivering prescription and over-the-counter drugs with full traceability.
• RxAll (Nigeria) — Co-founded by Adebayo “Sam” Alonge, RxAll uses AI-driven spectrometry to detect counterfeit drugs and ensure medicine quality.
• Sproxil (Nigeria/USA) — Founded by Ashifi Gogo, Sproxil develops mobile authentication solutions to help consumers verify the legitimacy of health and consumer goods.
• Meditect (Côte d’Ivoire/France) — A technology platform providing pharmaceutical authentication and digital prescriptions, Meditect offers a solution to ensure medicine traceability across Francophone West Africa.

Each selected company will receive up to $225,000 in non-dilutive grant funding, as well as technical assistance and commercial support from a network of partners that includes Sanofi’s Global Health Unit, MSD, Cencora, HELP Logistics, Chemonics International, SCIDaR (Solina Centre for International Development and Research), and Salient Advisory.

Originally, i3 had planned to support up to 15 startups, including early-stage ventures. However, the funding climate has forced a recalibration. The program is now prioritising growth-stage ventures capable of deploying solutions quickly and at scale — particularly those that can address urgent disruptions in medicine supply chains.

“This is not a retreat but a strategic narrowing,” said a representative of one of the program’s global partners. “We’re directing limited resources to the startups most likely to deliver immediate impact in pharmacy care under rapidly changing circumstances.”

Applications for the third cohort closed on February 28, and the announcement of selected companies on April 30 marks a notable shift in how health accelerators are adapting to geopolitical developments. A virtual Q&A session held in February drew high interest from health innovators across the continent, many of whom now face uncertainty about donor funding.

The U.S. foreign aid freeze has amplified long-standing concerns about Africa’s dependence on external funding for healthcare delivery. For countries with underfunded health systems and fragile medicine distribution networks, such disruptions are not merely financial — they are operational and life-threatening.

The pivot by i3 reflects a broader recognition of the need for sustainable, locally rooted models in African healthcare. While this year’s cohort is smaller, it includes companies already operating regionally or forming strategic partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders.

Past cohorts have included startups addressing diagnostics, logistics, and digital health platforms. Several alumni have gone on to raise follow-on funding and expand into new markets. This track record has helped reinforce confidence in i3’s approach, even as it adapts to difficult funding realities.

Looking ahead, the program’s backers say they remain committed to supporting early-stage ventures when the landscape stabilises. For now, however, i3 is placing a deliberate bet on a few high-performing firms with a focus on results.

Through targeted investment, the accelerator aims to safeguard medicine access for underserved populations and strengthen the resilience of pharmacy care ecosystems across the continent.

As health funding becomes more politicised globally, initiatives like i3 are likely to become even more critical — not just as financial backers, but as curators of innovation and stewards of local health systems.