“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. The opening to Charles Dicken’s ‘A Tale of 2 Cities’ captures what 2022 was like in Nigerian healthtech. The year began on a massive high with the announcement of 2 block-buster fundraises by mpharma and Reliance health. By the end of the year, however, 2 prominent million-dollar startups, 54gene ( a darling of the pandemic era) and Healthlane, a YC backed startup, had suffered significant misfortunes. Through the year, the pandemic-driven bull run of health tech began to wane and a global economic downturn emerged. Venture capital available to startups contracted and the mantra in startups changed from ‘grow at all costs’ to ‘focus on profitability’. In this year’s review, I look at 2022 through 2 lenses, the best of times and the worst of times. I then write about the evolving times we’re in and proceed to highli…
