Redbird

Health-tech startup.

Epitaph

“Here lies Redbird. It equipped six hundred Ghanaian pharmacies with rapid tests and record-keeping software, serving hundreds of thousands of patients. Its growth was real, but it reached the market for its next round just as the money left the room. The results came back negative.”

Overview

Born: 2018 (Year)
Died: February 2023 (Month)
Lifespan: 5 years
Fate: Shut down
Headquarters: 🇬🇭 Ghana
Category: Health Tech
Stage at death: Seed
Primary cause: Funding or runway

Death certificate

Timeline

2018Redbird founded
Patrick Beattie, Andrew Quao and Edward Grandstaff launch a health-tech startup in Ghana
March 2021Seed funding
Redbird raises $1.5M from the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, Newton Partners and Founders Factory Africa
2022Growth continues
Redbird scales to 600+ partner pharmacies while needing a new funding round by year-end
February 2023Shutdown
Redbird closes after failing to secure follow-on funding

Autopsy report

Why did Redbird shut down?

Redbird Health Tech, a Ghanaian health-tech startup that supplied pharmacies with rapid diagnostic tools, shut down in early 2023 after failing to raise a new funding round it needed by the end of 2022, per CEO Patrick Beattie.

What Redbird attempted

Partnered with pharmacies and licensed chemical shops across Ghana to provide rapid diagnostic testing (malaria, anemia, hepatitis B, cholesterol, blood pressure, pregnancy, etc.) plus software for tracking patient records.

What worked

Scaled to over 600 partner pharmacies and served hundreds of thousands of patients; raised $1.5M seed in 2021 from the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, Newton Partners and Founders Factory Africa (total $2.5M raised).

Early warning signs

Needed to close a new funding round by the end of 2022, but the company's growth trajectory and the investment climate didn't align, per the CEO.

What happened

Redbird scaled diagnostic testing across 600+ Ghanaian pharmacies after a 2021 seed round, but as it approached the end of 2022 it needed fresh capital to continue; the funding did not materialize amid a weak investment market, and the company shut down in early 2023.

Lessons for future builders

A healthy growth curve won't close a round if it meets a cold investment market at the wrong moment. Time fundraising to your runway with wide margin, and hold enough reserve to survive a market that shuts when you need it open.