Stockholm/London/Singapore, 20 April 2022 – MILVIK BIMA (“BIMA”), a leading digital healthcare solutions provider in emerging markets, has raised new funds from existing shareholders Allianz X and Leapfrog Investments to launch its Health Wallet in Asia.
The BIMA Health Wallet is the first of its kind, combining fintech tools and e-commerce features for healthcare. Integrated with the BIMA Health+ App, it supports BIMA’s mission to democratize healthcare in emerging markets. The BIMA Health Wallet enables customers to:
- Manage their BIMA health subscriptions in terms of payment flexibility and update nominees covered by their subscriptions;
- Earn and use Health Points;
- Visualize Health savings;
- Make cashless payments;
- Access their medical history and data; and
- Access subsidies from public-private funding.
“We first invested in BIMA in 2017 with the goal of making insurance more accessible to emerging consumers,” said Nhi Huynh, Senior Manager at Allianz X. “From a humble start in Ghana, BIMA has expanded into an additional African and 7 Asian markets. The emergence of COVID-19 emphasized the importance of digital health services like BIMA’s. Together with Leapfrog Investments, we’ve supported its transformation from a basic insurtech to a comprehensive healthtech with an insurance backbone. These funds will further the improvement of emerging consumer health services and protection.”
“BIMA’s business model is a stellar example of our profit with purpose strategy in emerging markets where healthcare is severely underpenetrated. Half of the world’s population still lacks access to essential healthcare1 but the BIMA Health Wallet can speed up digital healthcare adoption and make healthcare more accessible to millions of people. With the digital health industry forecasted to reach US$660 billion by 20252, we believe BIMA’s solutions tap into an enormous market opportunity by erasing healthcare access disparity,” said Stewart Langdon, Partner at Leapfrog Investments.
BIMA’s unique subscription model breaks down the high barrier to healthcare access. It has provided 25 million people with high-quality primary and secondary healthcare. This investment will further the company’s vision of providing 100 million people with healthcare access by 2026.
Access Health International (“AHI”), a non-profit think tank, advisory group and implementation partner with a mission to improve access to high-quality and affordable healthcare, is working with BIMA in Bangladesh to explore public-private funding opportunities in relation to the Health Wallet. “BIMA’s Health Wallet facilitates a direct-to-consumer avenue for health funding program implementation, which is one of the most critical aspects of healthcare funding. We look forward to working with BIMA to make healthcare more affordable”, said Adrienne Mendenhall, AHI’s Director of Business Development.
Health Points collected with every subscription payment made through the BIMA Health Wallet can be used for redemption of partner products such as medicine, medical equipment, health and fitness wearables, oral and eye care products, and nutritional items. Thus, lowering healthcare costs for consumers.
1https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/half-of-the-world-s-population-lack-access-to-essential-health-services-are-we-doing-enough/
2https://www.statista.com/statistics/1092869/global-digital-health-market-size-forecast