Famasi

Famasi (Famasi Africa) is a Nigerian digital health and pharmacy company that helps people find, order and refill medications through a network of partner pharmacies, and supplies those pharmacies with operating software. On the consumer side, users order medications with a valid prescription, see availability and pricing, pay in-app, receive same-day doorstep delivery, set up automated monthly refills, receive free follow-ups from a care specialist and can book virtual consultations. Digital dashboards and APIs let patients order, track and refill prescriptions, and let providers identify patients and offer remote monitoring.

On the supply side, Famasi describes itself as building an "OS for Pharmacies." Its Dispensary product is an Android inventory and point-of-sale terminal that consolidates the usual desktop, card terminal and barcode scanner setup into one device, giving pharmacies inventory tracking, operational management and insights, and giving Famasi visibility into stock availability across its aggregated network. The company has also built APIs to streamline its pharmacy partnership group and to deliver medications, and has integrated with financial service providers. In 2025 it described Remi, an AI pharmacy assistant built with AI platforms including Gemma, which triages patients on screen using questions such as age and symptoms and prompts pharmacists with the information needed to advise them.

The company frames its market around chronic disease adherence: it cites roughly 130 million people in Nigeria managing chronic illnesses with recurrent medication needs, about half of whom fail to adhere to their medications due to apathy, forgetfulness, access, poor chronic care management and fragmented refill processes, and points to 41 million annual deaths globally from non-communicable diseases.

Founding story

Famasi was founded by Adeola Ayoola, a licensed pharmacist, and Umar Faruq Akinwunmi, who worked in product, after 13 years of friendship. Ayoola spent about four years in community pharmacies and worked at the National Hospital in Abuja, where her experience with HIV/AIDS patients — including a nine-year-old boy born with HIV who struggled to walk yet had to travel to the hospital in person for antiretrovirals — shaped her focus on patients with recurrent medication needs. As an accounts manager at mPharma she worked with pharmacies on medication access and concluded there was an opportunity in last-mile delivery for recurrent-medication patients. The company launched by testing demand publicly, asking via a single tweet whether people would pay for such a service and receiving 133 direct replies within 24 hours.

Business model

Famasi operates a two-sided model. Consumers order prescription medications through its app and dashboards, with doorstep delivery, automated monthly refills, free follow-ups from assigned care specialists and virtual consultations with providers. Pharmacies pay for and use Famasi's Dispensary software — an Android inventory and point-of-sale terminal — to manage stock and operations, while APIs connect the pharmacy network to consumer and business demand. Rather than owning pharmacy assets, Famasi partners with existing pharmacies to avoid asset-heavy operating expense, and also partners with physicians, telemedicine providers and diagnostics companies.

Revenue derives from consumer medication orders and delivery placed through its app across partner pharmacies, and from pharmacy-facing software; the inventory management software built with five financial service providers was reported to contribute 10%–30% of the company's revenue growth as of August 2023. Revenue was described as low at the time of Hustle Fund's investment because pharmacies were being onboarded deliberately slowly.

Traction

At the time of its February 2023 pre-seed announcement Famasi had 229 provider pharmacies and a stated plan to onboard over 35,000 customers from its pipeline and reach 1,000 providers by the end of 2023. By August 2023 it had onboarded 279 pharmacies with 3,500 in the pipeline, built inventory management software with five financial service providers contributing 10%–30% of revenue growth, and built APIs for its pharmacy partnership group and deliveries. Its website states same-day delivery from more than 1,000 verified pharmacies in Nigeria. Reported team size was 10.

Latest developments

In March 2025, Google published a founder story on Famasi as part of its Africa AI Pioneer Stories series, describing the company's AI pharmacy assistant Remi, built with platforms including Gemma, which performs on-screen patient triage to guide pharmacists. Famasi's website promotes an annual "How We Cared" report for 2025 and advertises same-day delivery from more than 1,000 verified pharmacies, curated medication plans, auto-refill settings and a care team available seven days a week.