When we put together the first State of Health Tech report in 2018, one sector led overwhelmingly. Startups trying to help patients connect with doctors virtually had the highest number.
The reason was simple; there was a low barrier to entry, and many of the founders were doctors themselves. It was a convenient choice.
You simply layered a video conferencing tool, or if you could afford it, a chatbot on top of a service you already offered. It also seemed sexy. You got to brag that you are now a health tech entrepreneur. Quite frankly, there was also a glaring gap they were trying to fill. As of 2018, Nigeria had 3.8 doctors per 10,000 people, according to TechCabal Insights’ State of Healthtech in Nigeria 2026 report. Compare this to India, which has about 7.3 doctors per 10,000 people.
But telemedicine had a problem. Funding was falling behind. Users were not forthcoming despite the convenience these solutions promised. Consequently, investors couldn’t be convinced. Many of these startups shut down. Almost one in two of startup closures tracked between 2017 and 2021 by TechCabal Insights in the 2026 State of Health Tech Report were in the sector. In our 2018 report, the sector raised less than 5% of total funding across 23 startups.
