Gates Foundation invests in Basel’s Axmed
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed €5 million to Basel-based health-tech startup Axmed, supporting its mission to make essential medicines more affordable and accessible in low- and middle-income countries. The funding will help scale a digital distribution model designed to cut costs, reduce stockouts and increase transparency across fragile health systems.
A digital marketplace for essential medicines
Axmed operates a technology-enabled platform that connects manufacturers, distributors, governments and NGOs, aiming to streamline the fragmented global supply chain for essential drugs. By centralising demand and using data-driven forecasting, the company seeks to lower procurement prices and improve delivery reliability for critical products such as vaccines, antibiotics and treatments for chronic diseases.
The startup leverages digital supply-chain tools, including real-time inventory tracking and automated tender management, to help public health buyers negotiate better terms and prevent shortages. This approach is intended to support national health programs that often struggle with limited budgets and weak logistics infrastructure.
Tackling affordability and access gaps
With the backing of the Gates Foundation, Axmed plans to expand its presence in Africa and Asia, regions where patients frequently pay out of pocket and where price volatility can put life-saving treatments out of reach. The fresh capital will be used to enhance the platform’s data analytics, onboard more pharmaceutical partners and strengthen quality-assurance processes to combat falsified and substandard medicines.
The investment aligns with the foundation’s long-standing focus on improving global health outcomes by supporting innovative models that can scale. By targeting the structural inefficiencies of medicine procurement and distribution, Axmed aims to help governments stretch limited health budgets further while improving patient access to safe, affordable therapies.
If successful, the model could become a blueprint for how technology-driven health platforms can modernise public procurement and reshape the economics of essential medicines in emerging markets.