Singaporean healthcare B2B e-commerce platform raises $3M for Southeast Asia expansion

Healthcare B2B e-commerce platform Kyberlife has bagged $3 million in an investing round led by 5I Ventures. The sum was also raised from East Ventures, A2D Ventures, and NUS Alumni Ventures.

WHAT IT DOES

Founded in Singapore in 2021, the startup runs an online marketplace for sourcing critical healthcare equipment for use by academics, research laboratories, and other healthcare institutions. It claims to have streamlined the oft-lengthy and complex procurement process, reducing time by 40% on average. 

Connecting suppliers with laboratories, healthcare institutions, and research centres, the platform now features around 1.2 million products from 160 brands, including Merck, Eppendorf, and Sartorius, serving major customers such as the National University Singapore, Duke-NUS, Nanyang Technological University, and National Cancer Centre of Singapore. 

WHAT IT’S FOR

Kyberlife will utilise its fresh funds to onboard more suppliers onto its marketplace across Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. “The company aims to grow its vendor portfolio to ten times its current size within the next three years,” the startup shared in a statement. It will also introduce new product categories such as laboratory instruments and chemical reagents, supporting clinical trials and pharmaceutical research in the region. 

The funds will also be invested in AI and data analytics so it can enable personalised product recommendations. 

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Beyond Southeast Asia, digital healthcare marketplace operators Flipkart+ Health and PharmEasy also sought to address challenges in the procurement of critical healthcare supplies across the region, particularly long sourcing processes, lead times and opaque pricing. 

In 2021, Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy bought Aknamed, adding healthcare supply chain management to its portfolio. The following year, Flipkart Group, also from India, entered the healthcare supply chain segment with Flipkart Health+ after taking a minor stake in e-pharmacy startup SastaSundar.