EASE Secures $9.5 Million to Expand AI-Enabled Medical Imaging and Surgical Robotics in Africa

EASE Holdings, a medical equipment-as-a-service provider, has secured $9.5 million in additional equity from AAFC Group, a U.S.-based investor in emerging-market asset-backed finance, to scale operations in South Africa and Ghana. The investment brings EASE’s total equity to $24 million and, combined with its debt facilities, will enable the company to rapidly grow its installed base and expand access to advanced, increasingly AI-enhanced medical devices.

EASE’s pay-per-use and managed-equipment-service models include maintenance, support, and upgrades, and can be treated as an operating expense, allowing providers to focus on patient care rather than owning and managing equipment. Target categories include MRI, CT, and PET-CT scanners, surgical robots, and radiotherapy systems. After select initial deployments, EASE expects at least $20 million of new installations in South Africa next year, working with the country’s largest banks and leading equipment manufacturers, and intends to expand its South African board, having appointed Wynand du Plessis of Mindcor-InterSearch to recruit a managing director. Deployments to date include surgical robots in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, a PET-CT scanner in Rustenburg, an MRI scanner in Akwatia, Ghana, and CT scanners in Accra. EASE said it is assessing other markets including India, Morocco, and Malaysia.

Dr. Kanyinsola Oyeyinka, CEO of EASE, said the investment marks an important step in expanding the company’s healthcare infrastructure platform, which enables providers to deliver more diagnoses and treatments while helping more patients access the care they need. Oyeyinka noted that EASE can now bring more high-value equipment to its customers and enable them to keep pace with AI and other technology advances.

Frans van Schaik, CEO of AAFC Group, said EASE is addressing a structural constraint in which 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. Van Schaik added that this challenge becomes more acute as healthcare technology becomes increasingly AI-enabled, and EASE provides a solution that allows providers to keep pace.