Savannah Informatics: When Growth Stalls

In 2024, Savannah Informatics faced a paradox: Transactions on its Slade360 digital health platform kept rising, and operational performance was stronger than ever, yet revenue growth had slowed. Founded in Kenya in 2013, Savannah had built a robust electronic claims network connecting insurers and health care providers. Its platform for handling eligibility checks, invoicing, payments, and patient information had adapted deftly to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, an indication of the company’s ability to modify critical infrastructure under pressure.

Savannah continued to invest in portable patient identity, interoperable medical records, coordination of benefits, and AI-assisted claims processing. But its core business remained tied to Kenya’s relatively small privately insured population—and a boost in platform use did not necessarily translate to a larger paying market or more revenue per transaction.

Savannah’s leaders faced strategic decisions, as Kenya’s transition to a new health authority could bring a much larger share of health care financing onto digital public systems. At the same time, a potential partnership with a telecom company offered access to new customers and payment channels. Savannah could pursue either of these routes or continue to iterate on its core business. Expanding Savannah’s reach beyond private insurance could be profitable but either route came with new risks: dependence on public procurement and payment cycles; or the potential loss of margins, brand visibility, and customer relationships to a powerful partner.

The case asks how a proven platform can lock in its next opportunities for sustainable revenue—and decide how to allocate limited capital and management resources among opportunities that might appear complementary but would prove impossible to pursue simultaneously.