All heart: how these healthcare startups are shaping the future of cardiology in India

Technology has become a key enabler in early detection and treatment of heart diseases with startups leveraging this platform to extend the reach of healthcare to the masses.

According to the latest statistics released by the World Health Organisation, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) take the lives of 17.7 million people every year and account for 31 percent of all global deaths.

India could easily become the heart attack capital of the world due to rising mortality rates arising from cardiovascular diseases

The Global Burden of Disease study estimates that the standardised CVD death rate is 272 per 100,000 people in India, which is higher than global average of 235 per 100,000 people.

Earlier, cardiovascular diseases were attributed to a certain section of society because of its lifestyle.

Today, however, heart diseases are common among the underprivileged too. Efforts are being made towards early detection, reinforcement of health systems and preventive measures to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

In this scenario, technology has become the key enabler in the prevention and treatment of CVDs, especially in India, which also has low doctor to patient ratio and lesser number of hospitals in rural areas.

There are tools and platforms that enable health data collection for effective prevention and treatment. This is important because people who suffer from cardiovascular disease or who are at high risk need innovative and cost-effective solutions.

With newer firms being incubated in the healthcare space there are startups that are specifically devoted to cardiology segment.

On World Heart Day, YourStory takes a look at startups, which are leveraging the power of technology to come up with innovative devices and services, focussing on speedier intervention and extending the reach of healthcare to those who need it the most.

Tricog Health Services

Bengaluru-based Tricog Health Services, was founded in 2014 by interventional cardiologist, Dr Charit Bhoraj, electrical engineer, Zainul Charbiwala and technologists Udayan Dasgupta and Abhinav Gujjar.

It focusses on saving lives through accurate and instant diagnosis of cardiac incidents. Further, through the help of technology and artificial intelligence the company has managed to scale to over half-a-million ECG diagnoses in four years.

The technology platform of Tricog helps healthcare centres install its cloud-based ECG machine.The device aids doctors in detecting heart complications faster and the diagnosis is then shared with both the patient and doctor on a realtime basis.

Until now, Tricog has cumulatively raised $4.5 million in funding from Inventus Capital Partners, Blume Ventures, among others.

Cardiotrack

Founded by Ashim Roy and Avin Agarwal in 2014, Cardiotrack aims at making heart healthcare accessible and efficient. This startup has raised $300,000 in seed funding.

The startup’s m-Health platform helps primary care physicians to view ECG data captured through IoT sensors, and store patient records for easy retrieval while sending the information for secure storage in the cloud.

Along with AI capabilities, ECG signals can also be analysed with a high degree of accuracy to identify specific heart conditions.

Cardiotrack’s product was launched in September 2015 and its diagnostics sensors can function under extreme temperature, are dust ridden, and designed for humid environments. These devices have been deployed across India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Mexico and the US.

Cardiac Design Labs

Established in 2011 by Anand Madanagopal, Sashi Kumar, Ajax Thomas Mosin Badkar and Praveen Murthy, Cardiac Design Labs is based in Bengaluru. It has received seed funding from Cyient.

The startup focuses on efficient cardiac monitoring and diagnosis, which results in saving time and cost. Its wearable devices runs on proprietary alogrithms and connected systems and allows for real time access and reporting.’ The devices deployed by Cardiac Design is less than hundred but it is now looking to scale up.

Cardiac Design Labs’ devices allows for ECG monitoring up to 48 hours and can be connected to a mobile handset or laptop.

Its primary focus is to build intelligent remote holters, which are external wearable heart monitoring devices. The company plans to extend the reach of cardiac healthcare to remote areas.

Little Moppet Heart Foundation

Based in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Little Moppet Heart Foundation looks at cardiology care from a different angle – children.

Founded in 2016 by husband-wife duo Dr Gopi Nallaiyan and Dr Hemapriya Natesan, the startup’s aim is to spread awareness about congenital heart disease (CHD) among children. CHD is a problem in the structure of the heart that is present at birth.

The foundation aims to provide financial and medical support to children who suffer from CHD especially those belonging to the underprivileged sections of the society. It organises health camps across Tamil Nadu where it provides free treatment.

iMMi Life

This Chennai-based cardiology startup was founded by Manick Rajendran in 2015 after many years of research. The startup has an app platform that takes ECGs to cardiologists for faster interpretation, which enables quicker medical intervention to the patient.

The technology platform created by iMMi Life ensures the “golden hour” is not lost when an individual reports a symptom. Then, there is an accurate assessment as it has created by a real time network of cardiologists.

Under its app platform, any cardiologist who is connected to it and is available will provide the inference based on ECG reading.

This startup has received undisclosed seed funding from Unitus Seed Fund.