Globe unit funds mClinica expansion

MANILA, Philippines – Mobile health technology company mClinica is expanding its presence in Southeast Asia after getting funds from Kickstart Ventures Inc. of Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc.

Kickstart, together with foreign venture capitalists 500 Startups from Silicon Valley and IMJ Investment partners from Japan, made the infusion to mClinica to bankroll its expansion in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

This is Kickstart’s 19th investment in just over two years, underscoring the Globe subsidiary’s role as the Philippines’ most active institutional fund for seed and early-stage digital startups.

mClinica is the largest pharmacy network in the country with a growing network of over 1,400 pharmacies and access to over 20 million customers.

“We have been waiting for a solution like this. With mClinica, we now have new ways to access the pharmacy channel more and gather data in the process. This was non-existent before,” Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Philippines country manager Lito Ardeta said.

Farouk Meralli, a 28-year old Harvard School of Public Health graduate, worked as an executive in strategy and management for Roche, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer before taking the entrepreneurial route and founding mClinica. 

Meralli discovered first-hand the challenges pharmaceutical companies face in many emerging markets.

“While emerging markets were growing rapidly, we did not have access to the same data we had in more mature markets,” Meralli said.

Through mClinica, drug companies could reach pharmacies on a large scale through mobile phones and furthermore create programs that help patients better afford their medicine, be better educated about the medicines they take, help improve adherence and overall create better health outcomes.

Kickstart led this funding round, providing growth capital for mClinica as well as opening doors to corporations and overseas markets to support a more aggressive expansion plan.

As a member of Innov8 Sparks, the network of technology startup support and funding initiatives founded by members of the SingTel Group such as SingTel Innov8 (Singapore), AIS The Startup (Thailand), Kickstart Ventures (Philippines), Optus-Innov8 Seed (Australia), and Telkomsel Teman Dev (Indonesia), Kickstart would be able to give mClinica access to a combined mobile customer base of over 550 million in 25 markets across Asia and Africa.

Kickstart president Minette Navarrete said mClinica is improving medical retailing for patients and retail customers, drug stores, and large pharmaceutical firms.

“By combining proprietary software solutions with genuine insight into patient needs, a deep understanding of the pharma industry, and on-the-ground retail experience in emerging markets, mClinica is creating real value throughout the ecosystem, and their traction shows it,” she said.