HealthTech or healthcare technology is one of the fastest growing sectors in India.
At present, there is a strong focus on the adoption of IoT and Artificial intelligence. 37% of healthtech startups are incorporating IoT products while 54% of them are relying on AI and Machine Learning for providing their services. While healthcare has become much more accessible, the large population and overloaded healthcare infrastructure are the major challenges the healthcare sector faces in this country.
Let’s take a look at how these Indian healthtech startups are thriving to fill in the gaps left by traditional healthcare ecosystem.
1. Netmeds
Website: https://www.netmeds.com/
Address: 6th floor, EA chambers Tower I, No. 49, 50L, Whites Road, Royapettah, Chennai 600014, Tamil Nadu
Employee Size: 500 approximately
Funding Raised: 99M USD
Investors: Daun Penh Cambodia Group, Sistema Asia Capital, Tanncam Investment, OrbiMed
About Netmeds:
NetMeds is currently the largest healthcare startup in India. It is an online platform that provides delivery services for medicines and other healthcare products.
At present, Netmeds has a million users and services over nineteen thousand PIN codes across the country. The startup also has over fourteen logistic centers across the country. Their services are accessible via their app or their website.
Netmeds has a team of licensed pharmacists who receive and digitize hand-written prescriptions, allowing consumers to get easy access to medication.
USP: Netmeds is one of the first companies that started offering pharmaceutical products, including pediatric care products, wellness products, and even lab tests through their online portal. At present, their app has over 3 million downloads, making it one of the largest startups to democratize pharmaceuticals even during the pandemic.
Customer testimonial:
“Netmeds service during COVID 19 is magnificent. It gives good discounts than medical shops. The App is very simple to choose, and the service is very much proficient and prompt. Pretty satisfied with the service. Good Part is you need not spend huge bucks on Doctor’s prescribed medical shops which is other big relief. Way to GO.”
Narendra Nekkanti
2. HealthifyMe
Website: https://www.healthifyme.com
Address: 30/1, 80 Feet Rd, Kalyan Nagar, Indira Nagar 1st Stage, Stage 1, Indiranagar
Employee Size: 1,482
Funding Raised: HealthifyMe has raised a total of $100.1M in funding over 8 rounds.
Investors: Amit Gupta, Atlas Asset Management, Atlas Ventures, Blume Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Dream Incubator, Elm, Gopal Srinivasan, HealthQuad, IDG Ventures India, Inventus Capital, Inventus Capital Partners, Khosla Ventures, Leapfrog, Microsoft Accelerator, Microsoft Accelerator Bangalore, NB Ventures, Neelesh Bhatnagar, Pallav Nadhani, Roopa Nath, SamsungNEXT Ventures, Sashi Reddi, Sistema Asia Capital, Sistema Asia Fund, Unilever Ventures
About HealthifyMe:
HealthifyMe is a startup incubated by the Microsoft Accelerator program. In the beginning, the startup focused on developing deliverable results based on eating habits, fitness, and present lifestyle. It provided personalized wellness services to corporate and healthcare service providers.
During the initial phase of the lockdown, the company introduced a 21-day program for free that allowed the customer to build healthier eating habits. At present, the startup provides personalized nutrition tracking services, along with fitness plans.
It also provides its continuous glucose monitor that pairs with the app to show how different food is metabolized by the body. The company also has a smart scale that provides better insight into weight and body composition.
USP: HealthifyMe is one of the first startups that provide consumers with better insight into their nutrition. With their continuous glucose monitor and smart scale, their app can analyze and suggest diets to get fitter.
Customer testimonial:
“I have just started to use this app. I feel its very good and it have so many features to calculate your food and calories, it keep good record of everything and best quality is the team behind it ,they are catering me the best way possible and I would definitely recommend it to my family and friends.”
Maheen Andleeb
3. cult.fit
Website: https://www.cult.fit/
Address: 17/17C BDA 3rd Sector, Sector 4, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, IN
Employee Size: 2,050
Funding Raised: $479.6M (raised $75M a year ago)
Investors: Accel, Accel Partners, Anand Piramal Trust, Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, GableHorn Investments, IDG Ventures, IDG Ventures USA, InnoVen Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Oaktree Capital Management, Pratithi Investment Trust, Tata Digital, Temasek Holdings, Unilever Ventures
About cult.fit:
cult.fit started as a workout app to provide personalized training plans for individuals. However, it also provided offline access to gyms. This startup made it easier to get access to their gyms but also allowed individuals to train themselves when they could not make it to the gym.
Their app provides on-demand access to fitness, yoga, and meditation sessions. At present, the app also provides personalized meal tracking and nutrition plans. Cult.fit has also expanded to provide diagnostic tests for understanding one’s current physical and mental well-being.
USP: cult.fit provides comprehensive wellness services and is one of the first companies to do so. Besides personalized training and diet plans, it provides access to diagnostic tests, as well as mental health-related services.
Customer testimonial
“It’s a really good app and you get access to the entire range of services at the tip of your fingers…. Though you need to use more than your fingers to actually benefit from the wide range of exercises, food, mind health options available. Get off your backsides and sign up…. The only thing that could be better is the energy tracker for live sessions. Other than that it’s great. The crew behind this is awesome too. Very responsive.”
Sakshi Gopal
4. PharmEasy
Website: https://pharmeasy.in
Address: Lalbahadur Shastri Rd, Mumbai, India (HQ)
Employee Size: 2,830
Funding Raised: $673.7M (raised $350M a year ago)
Investors: Aarin Capital, Astarc Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Eight Roads Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures India, F-Prime Capital, Fundamentum, JM Financial, KB Financial Group, LGT group, Manipal Group, Nandan Nilekani, Orios Venture Partners, Prosus Ventures, TPG, Temasek Holdings, Think Investments
About PharmEasy:
PharmEasy provides easy access to prescribed medicines as well as OTC drugs. PharmEasy pitches itself as an online pharmacy store but provides way more services, including lab tests and online doctor consultations.
After acquiring MedLife, it has become the largest online pharmacy platform, serving nearly two million customers a month. Recently, the company has also acquired Thyrocare technologies and Aknamed.
PharmEasy works by partnering with local pharmaceutical stores. Once a customer uploads a prescription, it is verified by their team and then sent to the local store, where the medication is packed and delivered.
USP: PharmEasy made buying medicines simpler. While it offers a wide range of additional services, it is known for getting fast access to medications.
5. Innovaccer
Website: https://innovaccer.com
Address: 2nd and 9th Floor, Tower 3, Candor Techspace, Rajat Vihar, Block B, Industrial Area, Sector 62
Employee Size: 1,526
Funding Raised: $379.1M (raised $150M seven months ago)
Investors: 500 Startups, Arihant Patni, Avidity Partners, B Capital Group, Dragoneer, Krishna Mehra, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners India, M12, Mubadala, Mubadala Capital, OMERS Growth Equity, Pankaj Jain, Phanindra Sama, Pravega Ventures, Rajan Anandan, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global, Tiger Global Management, WestBridge Capital, Whale Rock Capital
About Innovaccer:
Innovaccer offers digital health services to healthcare providers. It is one of the few startups that provide services for population health management. It also provides digital solutions for care management and patient engagement.
Innovaccer leverages AI and Big Data tools to collect and analyze patient health. It also provides tools for patient engagement, decision-making, virtual care networks, social determinants of health data management, and remote patient monitoring.
The startup has a proprietary product, called Datashop that provides better patient care by integrating complex patient data from multiple sources.
USP: Innovaccer provides healthcare service providers with the tools necessary to provide more comprehensive patient care. It makes use of AI and ML systems to mine through patient data and provides insightful analysis.
6. Tata Health
Website: https://www.tatahealth.com
Address: 3rd Floor, 17r, 18th Cross Rd, Sector 3, HSR Layout
Employee Size: approximately 101-250
Funding Raised: Subsidiary of Tata Group
About Tata Health:
Tata Health is Tata’s consumer digital health platform that offers health services to both consumers and healthcare service providers. The company is a new initiative by Tata to enter the recently booming healthcare sector in the country.
This healthtech startup has multiple services in place for healthcare service providers. They have a cloud-based patient health record system, called Electronic Medical Record. They also have services for managing patient appointments, prescriptions, and billing with remote management capabilities as well as diagnostic solutions.
USP: With its widespread network of doctors and hospitals, Tata Digital Health’s B2C counterpart offers unique services such as the ability to remotely reach out to a doctor instantly. The B2B segment simplifies hospital management with dedicated tools and services.
7. Practo
Website: https://www.practo.com/
Address: Begur Hobli, Salarpuria Symbiosis, Bannerghatta Main Rd, Venugopal Reddy Layout, Arekere
Employee Size: 1,653
Funding Raised: $251.2M (raised $17.22M three years ago)
Investors: Sequoia Capital, Altimeter Capital, CapitalG, Google Capital, Matrix Partners, Matrix Partners India, Sofina, Tencent Holdings, Thrive Capital, Trifecta Capital Advisors, Yuri Milner, ru-Net
About Practo:
Practo is one of the older healthcare startups in India that has firmly established itself as a telemedicine and practice management platform. It is one of the few startups that provides services for individual doctors.
Practo primarily acts as a directory for doctors. Patients can browse through doctor’s profiles online and book appointments. It also helps patients to get teleconsultation over video chats.
For doctors, Practo has a subscription-based solution that helps doctors and clinics with practice and reputation management. The platform also helps with managing prescriptions and the purchase of medications.
USP: Practo is the of the first companies that brought telemedicine to India. It has kept its focus on connecting patients with the right doctors. It is also one of the few platforms that offer dedicated solutions for individual doctors and clinics.
Customer testimonial:
“Extremely helpful feature. Follow-up keeps patients well-connected with the doctor. It’s a very professional approach because doctor’s personal contact details are not shared.”
Dr. Bhavesh Acharya
8. Docplexus
Website: https://www.docplexus.com/
Address: A-302, Teerth Technospace Commercial & IT Park, Mumbai-Bengaluru Highway, Baner
Employee Size: 134
Funding Raised: $700K (raised seven years ago)
Investors: Uniqorn Ventures, ASP Consulting
About Docplexus:
Docplexus is a unique online platform solely for clinicians. The platform focuses on building a community of doctors to create more informed doctors. The more informed a doctor is, the better decisions they can take.
Docplexus allows doctors to stay up to date about the developments in academia, and the treatment procedures that are being researched or developed and discuss them with fellow doctors in the community. At present, it has over 2,75,000 registered members.
USP: Unlike other startups, Docplexus is solely focusing on doctors, enabling them to make better decisions when it comes to patients.
Customer testimonial:
“As a doctor, it is important that you join a forum like Docplexus. It is a forum where we, as doctors, interact with our people and colleagues for the benefit of Healthcare in general.”
Dr. A.G Unnikrishnan, CEO & Chief of Endocrinology, Chellaram Diabetes Institute
9. Ekincare
Website: https://www.ekincare.com/
Address: Trendz JR, 2A No. 1-89-A/8 1, Vittal Rao Nagar
Employee Size: 201
Funding Raised: $5.7M (raised $3.6M three years ago)
Investors: Adroitent, Anshoo Gaur, BVR Mohan Reddy, Bitkemy Ventures, East Venture Capital, Eight Roads Ventures, Endiya Partners, Maheshwari Investment. Pvt. Ltd, RamaKrishna Reddy, Sandeep Seerapu, Touchstone Equities, VenturEast
About Ekincare:
Ekincare started as a startup to keep individual medical records secured and organized. Medical documents are securely stored in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere. Furthermore, the saved data is presented in a simplified manner, using easy-to-understand visuals.
Presently, the company also provides corporate wellness programs for companies. It also allows employees to sync health-related data from their wearables.
USP: Ekincare enables companies to take better care of their employees’ health, offering personalized solutions by leveraging wearable sensor data.
10. NIRAMAI
Website: https://www.niramai.com/
Address: Ground Floor, Innova Pearl, No. 17, 5th Block, Koramangala Industrial Layout, Koramangala
Employee Size: 70
Funding Raised: $6.1M
Investors: 500 Startups, Ankur Capital, Axilor Ventures, BEENEXT, Binny Bansal, Dream Incubator, Google Launchpad Accelerator, Pi Ventures
About NIRAMAI:
NIRAMAI or “Non-Invasive Risk Assessment with Machine Intelligence” aims to reduce breast cancer fatalities through early detection. At present, their method relies on Thermalytix, a computer-aided thermal imaging solution that can detect early markers of breast cancer. The company has already patented its technologies with USPTO and has received regulatory approval in multiple countries.
USP: Breast cancer screening is often time-consuming and requires radiological intervention. NIRAMAI uses a non-invasive method without any radiation for screening in a privacy-focused manner.
Our Research Methodology
In this article, we list out some of the most exciting healthtech startups in India right now. We consider companies that are bringing in novelty, have established themselves as trustworthy brands and are addressing concerns that are specific to this country.
For instance, brands like Niramai and Innovaccer are providing services that no other brands are providing, whereas brands like HealthifyMe and cult.fit are addressing the issues of sedentary lifestyle to easily accessible fitness routines. Brands like PharmEasy and Practo are making healthcare much more accessible, which has always been a challenge in this country.
Also read: Top 10 healthtech companies in the United States
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FAQs
1. Infrastructure and Accessibility: Unequal access to reliable technology and internet connectivity, particularly in rural areas, can limit the reach of some HealthTech solutions.
2. Regulatory Landscape: Navigating the evolving regulatory environment for healthcare and data privacy can be complex for startups.
3. Affordability and Adoption: Making these solutions affordable for patients and healthcare institutions while encouraging widespread adoption remains a challenge.
1. Explore various funding options: Consider options like angel investors, venture capitalists, government grants, or crowdfunding platforms to secure the capital needed to develop and launch your HealthTech solution.
2. Develop a compelling business plan: Craft a clear and concise business plan that outlines your product or service, target market, revenue model, and growth strategy. This plan will be essential when pitching to potential investors.
3. Build a strong team: Assemble a team with expertise in healthcare, technology, and business development to navigate the complexities of launching a successful HealthTech startup in India.
Security is paramount. Implement robust security measures to safeguard sensitive patient information. This includes features like data encryption, access controls, and regular security audits. Prioritize compliance with data privacy regulations like HIPAA (if applicable) and India’s data protection laws.
