SA’s Knife Capital Invests in Pharmaceutical Temperature Monitoring Solution, PharmaScout
Cape Town-based business 5nines technologies that has developed one point solution, PharmaScout for healthcare professionals, has raised an undisclosed amount in Series A from Knife Capital.
PharmaScout delivers an M2M temperature monitoring compliance solution for pharmacies and doctors licenced to dispense medication in South Africa. The startup achieves this by employing hardware and software elements, temperature mapping of storage areas including refrigerators, periodic calibration of the temperature measuring equipment and continuous monitoring that includes alarms, notifications, data storage & daily reporting.
Founded in 2015, 5nines derives its name from 99.999% (5nines). The startup claims to have high availability of services where the downtime is less than 5.26 minutes per year.
Doug Siepman, CEO and Co-Founder of 5nines, said, “We are delighted to partner with Knife Capital at this stage of our growth journey. The team brings a wealth of experience and market access networks to the business that we are already starting to tap.”
The South African Pharmacy Act was amended to require that anyone storing, distributing or administering thermolabile pharmaceutical products must use appropriate storage facilities, electronic temperature monitoring instruments and conduct regular checks, including annual temperature mapping of storage areas and calibration of temperature sampling equipment.
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Doug Siepman, Co-Founder 5nines Technologies
“There are few pharmaceutical quality and safety issues more important than those relating to the storage and handling of temperature sensitive products. PharmaScout and its related product suite deliver the most convenient and cost-effective way of meeting the professional responsibility & legal burden of temperature monitoring compliance in South Africa,” said Siepman.
Knife Capital has been investing actively this year, with two investments and a successful exit. They had invested in Machine Learning startup DataProphet in March this year, followed by a Series A investment in SkillUp Tutors. They also were part of what is speculated as a multi-million dollars exit of orderTalk.
“It contains all the elements that we look for in a portfolio company,” says Keet van Zyl, Investment Partner at Knife. “There is a compelling investment case underpinned by recurring revenue, great people with execution abilities resulting in proven traction and intellectual property elements that make the technology scalable. Macro factors in the industry such as increased legislation and auditable but affordable medical compliance standards also play in PharmaScout’s favour.”
Knife Capital invests via a consortium of funding partnerships, including SARS section 12J Venture Capital Company KNF Ventures and select family offices.
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