The archive · Health & Care · Strategic decision · 2016–2026
Kasha bets Rwandan women will buy health products online; $21M Series B scales it
Started in Kigali selling pads and contraceptives by phone and SMS with discreet delivery; grew into a $21M-backed pan-African last-mile health platform.
Kasha
What the business is
Digital retail and last-mile distribution for health products and fast-moving consumer goods: customers order via website, app, SMS or phone call and receive discreet delivery, with an enterprise channel serving pharma manufacturers.
Starting capital：Friends-and-family angel investment at launch, then a $2M seed round raised in late 2016
How it started
Launched in Kigali in July 2016 by Joanna Bichsel and Amanda Arch, two former Microsoft employees from Seattle; Bichsel had just left the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The founders chose Rwanda for its mobile penetration, cashless ambitions and women's-empowerment agenda, spent months testing how comfortable women were ordering online and paying by mobile money, then won the Rwandan leg of Seedstars World weeks after launch with nearly 400 customers in its first four months.
What happened
Kasha grew within Kenya and Rwanda and raised a $21M Series B in July 2023 led by South Africa's Knife Capital, with Finnfund, DFC, Altree Capital, Tim Koogle and Pam Scott, Beyond Capital Ventures, Bamboo Capital's BLOC Smart Africa Fund and Five35 Ventures participating. The round funded expansion into South Africa and West Africa later that year and investment in the enterprise channel that lets pharmaceutical manufacturers use Kasha's data, marketing and last-mile network.
How it ended up
Still operating: by 2026 Kasha's site described it as Africa's leading digital platform for last-mile health access, with reach across East, West, South, Central and North Africa.
Background
Kasha's bet was that East African women — the region's main buyers of health and household goods, yet badly underserved — would order sanitary pads, contraceptives and other health products remotely and take discreet delivery. Launched in Kigali in July 2016 by Joanna Bichsel and Amanda Arch, two former Microsoft employees, it let customers order by website, mobile app, SMS shortcode or phone call, with no smartphone or internet connection required, and pay by mobile money.
Kasha won the Rwandan leg of Seedstars World within months of launch and had almost 400 customers in its first four months, then expanded into Kenya. In July 2023 it raised a $21M Series B led by South Africa's Knife Capital, with Finnfund, DFC, Altree Capital, Tim Koogle and Pam Scott, Beyond Capital Ventures, Bamboo Capital's BLOC Smart Africa Fund and Five35 Ventures participating — funding entry into South Africa and West Africa and investment in its enterprise channel for pharma manufacturers.
By 2026 Kasha described itself as Africa's leading digital platform for last-mile health access, spanning commerce, last-mile delivery and patient-adherence services with reach across East, West, South, Central and North Africa — the original women's e-commerce bet expanded into a continent-wide health distribution business.
What has to be true
- Women were the most underserved buyers of health and household goods, yet the decision-makers on most household purchases — so demand was latent, not absent.
- Ordering via SMS, app, website or phone call meant no smartphone or data plan was required, unlocking rural and low-income customers.
- Discreet delivery removed the embarrassment of buying pads or contraceptives in shops, making the product category itself the marketing.
- The Series B investor set — Knife Capital, Finnfund, DFC and others — funded pan-African expansion after revenue growth in Kenya and Rwanda proved the model.
What can be applied
Start where the purchase is most private: shame around health products drove women to order remotely, turning discomfort into demand — then expand from that niche into the whole supply chain.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Kasha is still running. Its website describes it as Africa's leading digital platform for last-mile health access, spanning commerce, last-mile delivery and patient-adherence services with reach across East, West, South, Central and North Africa — a long way from the Kigali e-commerce site with a few hundred customers in late 2016. The July 2023 $21M Series B led by Knife Capital funded entry into South Africa and West Africa, and Kasha positions itself as a channel partner for pharma manufacturers and global health organisations.
Sources
- Rwandan digital health access startup Kasha raises $21m Series B to expand across Africa
- Rwandan healthtech Kasha closes $21m funding
- Rwanda's Kasha taking female-focused e-commerce across East Africa
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe what you are building, and see who is betting on the same thing.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card