In a world where counterfeit products run rampant, Nigerian startup Chekkit is stepping up to the plate to tackle the issue head-on. The company has just secured additional funding to scale its blockchain-powered drug safety and tracking solution, which promises to revolutionize the way products are tracked from warehouse to consumer.
Chekkit was formed at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in Accra, Ghana back in 2018. Since then, it has built a platform that tracks product movement and the parties involved in the transfer of products from warehouse to distributor, and on to the final consumer. Using tamper-proof unique ID labels in the form of QR codes or numeric codes, Chekkit can provide end-to-end serialisation and traceability for products, making it a powerful tool for combatting counterfeiting.
So far, the startup has helped secure over 50 million pharmaceutical and consumer goods products, and its growth is set to continue after Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) announced that pharmaceutical products would be mandated to implement end-to-end serialisation and traceability from the end of 2024.
To take advantage of this opportunity to scale, Chekkit has raised an undisclosed round of funding from Adaverse, a Cardano ecosystem accelerator, as well as existing investors like RTA, HoaQ, Launch Africa Ventures, and Blockchain Founders Fund. This funding will help Chekkit onboard more manufacturers across Nigeria and other regions in Africa, while also expanding to new markets in India, the UK, and the Middle East.
In addition to this, Chekkit has partnered with SAP, enabling pharmaceutical brands that already use SAP’s Advanced Track and Trace Platform to collect and analyze last-mile patient data. The company has also integrated the GS1 global standards system, making its serialization software regulatory compliant in over 100 countries globally.
“We are currently exploring opportunities to optimize and strengthen supply chains for other African and Middle Eastern regions through partnerships with major pharmaceutical donors, manufacturers, governments, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),” said Dare Odumade, Chekkit’s CEO. “We are focusing a side of the business on fixing the public pharmaceutical supply chains of these low to middle-income earning countries.”
Vincent Li, founding partner at Adaverse, is excited about the potential of Chekkit’s solution. “Rather than just another anti-counterfeiting solution, Chekkit aims to repair the prevailing rift in consumer-manufacturer trust with the blockchain-secured channel, prioritizing consumer insights,” he said. “We see the potential to transform the supply chain industry and disrupt the DataFi market and we’re excited to support the scaling of Chekkit’s infrastructure.”
With its innovative solution and strong partnerships, Chekkit is set to make a significant impact on the fight against counterfeiting and improve the safety and security of products for consumers around the world.
This article first appeared on afrikanheroes.com.
