Earlier this week, local angel fund Buko Ventures announced a new addition to their early-stage portfolio with an investment in InterLeukin, supporting their mission to transform the traditional procurement processes of medical institutions.
Founded in May 2020, InterLeukin is a B2B ecommerce platform supporting hospitals, labs, and healthcare providers with supply chain management tools to streamline their procurement processes. The startup aims to expand the limited supplier options and digitize the largely manual systems healthcare institutions rely on to purchase medical supplies.
InterLeukin’s offerings include real-time product price negotiations, customizable delivery and payment terms, purchase order generation and approvals, product sample requests, orders tracking, multiple payment options, and forecasting analytics. These tools supplement the thousands of healthcare items currently available for purchase on their platform. Initially a free-to-use platform, InterLeukin counts some major universities and laboratories in the Philippines as early customers.
In 2019, the Philippine healthcare providers sector generated $16.1 billion. Medical goods was the sector’s most lucrative segment, contributing 35.5% of revenues at $5.7 billion. InterLeukin positions itself as an enabler in this space, providing firms with access to digital procurement systems, more supplier options, and, consequently, more consistent supply levels—pointing towards more potentially profitable operations.
“Our objective is to bridge the supply chain gap by operating as a fully functional digital procurement medium for healthcare facilities,” said the InterLeukin team, led by CEO Laila Marquez. “We collaborate with local and international distributors and manufacturers on [customers’] behalf to lower and stabilize costs.”
Joining Marquez, who has spent over 10 years working across healthcare in laboratory science and sales, are co-founders Ki-Young Lee, who serves as the startup’s chief business development officer, and Mohammad Johnson Nawang, serving as chief operating officer.
Earlier in January, MedHyve, a similar local digital platform providing private hospitals and clinics with intelligent procurement tools, raised just over $400,000 in pre-seed funding from investors including global venture capital firm Pegasus Tech Ventures and Foxmont Capital Partners.
InterLeukin joins Buko Ventures’ diverse portfolio of pre-revenue startups. Previous investments include digital rental marketplace Forent and blockchain-enabled campus gaming startup AcadArena, which recently went on to raise $3.5 million in seed funding from global investors.