The fresh investment increases EASE’s total equity funding to $24 million and will be combined with debt facilities to finance additional medical equipment across its operating markets.
EASE provides hospitals, clinics and specialist practices with equipment through pay-per-use and managed-service arrangements, reducing the amount healthcare providers must spend upfront to acquire expensive machines.
The company is targeting at least $20 million in new equipment installations in South Africa in 2027, following initial deployments in the country.
According to EASE’s announcement, the equipment categories being considered include magnetic resonance imaging machines, computed tomography scanners, positron emission tomography-computed tomography scanners, surgical robots and radiotherapy systems.
The $20 million represents EASE’s target for new South African installations next year and is separate from AAFC Group’s $9.5 million equity investment.
EASE targets South African hospitals
EASE said it would work with major South African banks and medical-equipment manufacturers to execute the planned installations.
The company has already deployed surgical robots in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces, as well as a PET-CT scanner in Rustenburg.
In Ghana, its installations include an MRI scanner in Akwatia and CT scanners in Accra.
EASE chief executive Kanyinsola Oyeyinka said the new capital would allow the company to provide more high-value equipment and help healthcare providers keep pace with advances in artificial intelligence and other medical technologies.
“This investment marks an important step in expanding our healthcare infrastructure platform, which enables providers to deliver more diagnoses and treatments, while helping more patients access the care they need,” Mr Oyeyinka said.
“We can now bring more high-value equipment to our customers and enable them to keep pace with AI and other technology advances.”
The company said its service contracts cover equipment maintenance, technical support and upgrades. This allows healthcare providers to treat the cost as an operating expense instead of purchasing and managing the machines themselves.
US investor targets equipment-financing gap
Its chief executive, Frans van Schaik, said conventional bank requirements made it difficult for many healthcare providers to acquire increasingly sophisticated diagnostic and treatment equipment.
“EASE is addressing a structural constraint: providers need access to increasingly sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic technology, but the equity-to-debt ratios banks require make advanced medical equipment very expensive to own,” Mr van Schaik said.
“As healthcare technology becomes increasingly AI-enabled, that challenge becomes more acute. EASE provides a solution that allows providers to keep pace.”
EASE is headquartered in the Netherlands and currently operates in South Africa and Ghana. It is also assessing expansion opportunities in Morocco, India and Malaysia.
The company plans to enlarge its South African board and has begun recruiting a managing director for the unit as it prepares for the proposed 2027 rollout.
The investment gives AAFC Group a direct role in expanding medical infrastructure in South Africa, one of Africa’s largest healthcare markets, while providing EASE with the capital needed to increase its installed equipment base without requiring hospitals to fund the full purchase cost upfront.
Source: africa.businessinsider.com
