Waspito’s $250,000 LEAP Win Puts Cameroon HealthTech in the Spotlight

A healthcare startup founded in Cameroon has just returned from Saudi Arabia with a US$250,000 prize and a much bigger question to answer: how far can a locally built healthtech platform scale across Africa?

Waspito, founded by Jean Lobe Lobe in 2020, won the Grand LEAP Award at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh, taking the largest individual prize in a competition that distributed US$1 million across seven categories. The company was selected from a field of startups competing at one of the world's major technology events. (Disrupt Africa)

But the award is only one part of the story.

Behind the pitch is a business that has spent the past six years trying to solve a very practical problem: what happens when someone needs medical attention but the right doctor is hundreds of kilometres away?

For Lobe, that question is personal.

A family tragedy became the starting point

During his LEAP presentation, Lobe spoke about the death of his father after suffering a heart attack in Kumba, Cameroon.

According to his account, there was no cardiologist available locally at the time. His father had to be transported to another location to find specialist care but died before reaching the doctor.

Lobe had originally been interested in becoming a medical doctor himself. Instead, the experience pushed him in another direction. He left his job, taught himself to code and eventually built what became Waspito. (LinkedIn)

That origin story matters because Waspito was not built around a technology looking for a problem. The problem came first.

The company started with telemedicine, allowing patients to connect with doctors through video consultations. But its model has since expanded beyond simply putting a doctor on a screen.

Waspito is building more than a video consultation service

Waspito's platform connects different parts of the healthcare system.

Patients can access doctors through its telehealth service, while the company has also developed services around laboratory testing, healthcare payments and other parts of the patient journey.

The approach has been evolving since Waspito's early years. In 2023, the company told TechCrunch that it had already reached 650,000 users across Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire, with 950 doctors and 60,000 consultations. It also experimented with physical mini-clinics to reach people who could not easily access digital services. (TechCrunch)

The latest figures show a larger operation.

Waspito now says it connects around 1.1 million patients with 2,100 doctors and more than 500 healthcare providers in Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire. (Disrupt Africa)

That shift is important for investors watching African healthtech.

A telemedicine application can provide consultations. A healthcare platform has a much broader ambition: connecting patients, healthcare providers, insurers and organisations that pay for healthcare.

Waspito is increasingly positioning itself in that second category.

AI enters the healthcare model

One of the more interesting developments is the company's move into artificial intelligence.

In June 2026, Waspito launched AHIM, or African Health Intelligence Model, an AI-powered health assistant available through WhatsApp. The service is designed to help users navigate healthcare services and information before connecting them to appropriate professionals. (The Voice of African Enterprise)

The choice of WhatsApp is commercially significant.

Instead of asking users to download and learn another application, Waspito is placing part of its healthcare experience inside a platform many Africans already use.

AHIM can help users navigate consultations, laboratory services and other healthcare options. Waspito has also made clear that the AI assistant is not intended to replace doctors. Medical diagnosis, consultations and treatment decisions remain with qualified healthcare professionals. (The Voice of African Enterprise)

For a healthtech company, that distinction matters.

AI can reduce friction around information and navigation. It does not remove the need for clinical professionals, regulation, medical records, patient protection and responsible handling of health data.

That is where the business challenge becomes more complicated.

The money behind the expansion

Waspito has already attracted international investors.

The company raised US$2.7 million in 2022, followed by a US$2.5 million seed extension in 2023, bringing announced funding at the time to US$5.2 million. The 2023 round was backed by investors including DP World through Newtown Partners, Saviu Ventures, AAIC Investment, Axian Ventures and CFAO's Health54. (TechCrunch)

At LEAP 2026, Lobe said Waspito was working on a US$10 million Series A, with part of the capital intended to support expansion into additional markets and further development of its technology. (LinkedIn)

The company has therefore reached an important stage.

The question is no longer simply whether people will use digital healthcare. It is whether Waspito can build a business infrastructure capable of supporting healthcare transactions across several African markets.

That means handling different regulations, insurance systems, payment structures, healthcare providers and consumer expectations.

Why this matters for Cameroon

For Cameroon, Waspito's rise says something about where the country's startup ecosystem is heading.

The company was founded in Douala and is building technology around a problem that exists well beyond Cameroon's borders.

That is different from building a digital product simply for the domestic market.

A successful healthtech business has to understand local healthcare realities while also designing systems that can work across borders. Waspito's presence in Côte d'Ivoire gives it experience outside Cameroon, while its stated expansion ambitions point towards a wider African market. (TechCrunch)

There is also an investment story here.

Cameroon has spent years trying to attract capital into sectors such as technology, finance, agriculture, energy and infrastructure. Startups like Waspito offer another route: building companies locally that can attract international capital because they are solving problems that exist across multiple African markets.

The LEAP award does not prove that every Cameroon startup can follow the same path. It does, however, give Waspito additional visibility as it seeks its next stage of financing.

The harder part starts after the award

Winning US$250,000 is significant, but it does not solve the operational problems facing African healthtech.

Digital healthcare still depends on internet access, smartphone availability, payment systems, medical regulation and trust.

There is another challenge too: healthcare is not entirely digital.

Patients will still need laboratories, pharmacies, hospitals, nurses and doctors. Serious conditions will still require physical examination and treatment.

Waspito's earlier decision to experiment with mini-clinics reflected this reality. Its business model has had to account for people who may not have reliable internet access or the financial means to use smartphones for every stage of healthcare. (TechCrunch)

That makes the company's current direction particularly interesting.

The long-term opportunity may not be replacing traditional healthcare with an app. It may be connecting the pieces that already exist and making it easier for patients, providers and payers to interact.

A bigger market is emerging around healthcare infrastructure

Waspito's development also points to an opportunity beyond telemedicine.

If digital health platforms become more widely adopted, businesses could emerge around electronic health records, medical payments, insurance technology, laboratory networks, pharmaceutical distribution, healthcare logistics and data infrastructure.

For investors, the important question will be whether these companies can turn user growth into sustainable revenue while maintaining the standards expected in healthcare.

For governments, regulation will matter just as much.

Jean Lobe Lobe has previously identified clear regulatory frameworks and public awareness as two of the barriers that need to be addressed if digital health is to grow further in Africa. (Invest Time)

Those are not problems a startup can solve alone.

Final Thoughts

Waspito's journey from a Cameroon startup to a US$250,000 LEAP winner is now part of a much larger conversation about African technology.

The company has raised millions of dollars, expanded beyond Cameroon, built a network of doctors and healthcare providers, introduced AI through WhatsApp and is preparing for another funding round. (TechCrunch)

But the most interesting part of the story may be what comes next.

Can Waspito turn a strong technology proposition into a healthcare platform that works across different African markets? Can it make digital access useful for people outside major cities? And can it build a commercially sustainable model while operating in one of the most highly regulated areas of the economy?

Those questions will matter more than the trophy.

For Cameroon, however, there is already one clear development worth watching: a company built around a problem experienced in Kumba is now competing for capital and customers far beyond Cameroon's borders.

That is a business story worth following.