[World Health Day] Meet 5 healthtech startups that are powering the future of healthcare in India

World Health Day is celebrated every year on 7 April to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. The organisation uses it as an opportunity to draw attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year.

This year, the spotlight will be on the interconnectedness between the planet and our health, and WHO will focus global attention on “urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being”.   

Technology has changed the way healthcare is delivered across the world and is poised to continue to transform the sector.  

According to an IAMAI-Praxis report titled HealthTech Predictions 2021, the Indian healthtech market is growing at 39 percent CAGR and will reach $5 billion by 2023. The report revealed that the health technology market currently stands at $1.9 billion, which is only 1 percent of the total Indian healthcare market.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the gaps in the healthcare segment, brought in opportunities for solving the gaps, and also led to an accelerated acceptance of digital healthcare.

This World Health Day, YourStory has curated a list of five healthtech startups across diverse verticals that are changing the lives of people. 

FITTR

Founded in January 2015 by Jitendra Chouksey, Pune-based health and fitness startup Fittr  provides a safe and judgment-free platform for people to learn, transform, inspire, and explore career opportunities in fitness.

In 2018, FITTR launched an app for Android and iOS users which serves as a one-stop solution for all health and fitness guidance-related needs. Currently it claims to have four million+ app downloads.

Jitendra Chouksey, Founder and CEO, FITTR, says, “At FITTR, our aim is to help people live a healthy and fit life, and this year's World Health Day exudes the same thought and emotion. Our efforts have always been towards providing the most accurate, authentic, and exhaustive scientific fact-based knowledge about health and wellbeing, which has resulted in millions of people getting fit on our platform. We want to continue to do so.”

The startup offers a B2C freemium model. It allows free use of its diet and training tools as well as access to a community of fitness experts and enthusiasts. 

Users can get personalised guidance, customised meal and workout plans, and weekly checkups through FITTR’s certified coaches by paying a small premium. 

FITTR claims that it has transformed 200,000+ lives with its services. Over 500+ coaches are working on promoting preventive and sustainable lifestyle practices for long healthy lives.

The startup has raised a total funding of $13.5 million to date. Its most recent – the Series A round in September 2021 - was led by Dream Capital and Elysian Park Ventures for $11.5 million. 

Meddo

Founded in 2018 by Saurabh Kochhar and Dr Naveen Nishchal, Gurugram-based Meddo is a phygital outpatient care platform. It aims to transform outpatient care by upgrading and standardising services across standalone clinics, by converting them into smart full-service health centres and by providing quality care at affordable prices.

“Meddo Health was conceived with a vision to digitise and organise the ambulatory care space in India on the back of innovative technology solutions. This year’s theme for World Health Day, Our Planet, Our Health, presents a unique opportunity for a green and healthy recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on good health and wellbeing,” says Saurabh Kochhar, Co-founder and CEO, Meddo.

 Meddo partners with clinics to upgrade them into full-service health centres, providing one-stop care to all the patients and digitally enabling the entire healthcare ecosystem using in-house technology and systems. 

“We believe primary healthcare should be the cornerstone of the pandemic response and recovery from current and future public health emergencies. Formalising/standardising it in India is the most inclusive and efficient way to protect the health of people and communities,” he adds.

The startup is claiming that it currently operates over 250 fully integrated and branded OPD clinics and has over 4,000+ doctors in its network.

The platform combines a network of curated celebrated doctors along with nutrition, lifestyle, and medical testing services. It also allows customers to access health records through its mobile application. 

Care OS by Meddo streamlines clinical care further, providing end-to-end assistance to doctors and patients. The Android app has 10,000+ downloads so far.

In 2020, the startup expanded its pre-Series A round to a cumulative amount of $6 million led by Picus Capital and SRI Capital, and has seen a growth of 2.5X in revenues in 2020 vs 2019.

NirogStreet

Launched in 2016 in Gurugram by Ram N Kumar and Robin Jha, NirogStreet is a B2B2C technology-enabled and doctor-led platform aimed at streamlining the supply chain of ayurvedic services and medicine. It aims to transform this into a formalised and well-integrated healthcare system by engaging, empowering, and aggregating fragmented ayurveda doctors and clinics to create an experience that patients can trust.

Ram N Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, NirogStreet, says, “NirogStreet has constantly worked towards infusing technology and new energy into the ayurveda healthcare ecosystem, and making it more accessible for people who seek authentic doctors and medicines. NirogStreet has been earning accolades, in India and globally, for its sustainable contributions towards capacity building, community building, and promotion of ayurveda healthcare.”

With a presence in over 120 cities of the country, the ayurveda healthtech startup claims to have witnessed a significant growth in its user base and doctor engagement. In the last one year, it claims to have grown by 240 percent.

The company has successfully enabled more than 50,000+ ayurvedic doctors to adopt evidence-based treatment in ayurveda using its NirogStreet for Ayurveda doctor’s mobile application.

Around 8, 000 doctors in the country are ordering ayurvedic medicines from the company's ecommerce platform.Over 30,000 people are getting ayurveda tele consulting every month through NirogStreet platform.

It has over 200+ certified clinics and has aggressive plans to open 300 clinics by the end of the year.

In July 2021, NirogStreet raised $2.5 million in Series A funding from Gokul Rajaram, Pureland Venture, and Wavemaker Partners.

The startup vision is to touch a billion lives by empowering 1.3 million ayurveda and alternative medicine practitioners through hands-on digital enablement and access to quality medicines for their patients. 

JSB Healthcare 

Based out of New Delhi, JSB Healthcare is in the health and fitness industry. It carries a vast line of products such as massage chairs, sports  and fitness equipment, patient care, and wellness products. 

The company claims to offer value-for-money products of the highest quality at decent prices. JSB Healthcare’s products are liked not only in India, but across the globe. Following US FDA standards, the products are used by consumers in more than 14 countries. 

JSB Healthcare commenced operations 30 years back with a store in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi. Being an agile family-run operation, the management was quick to grasp the shift in consumer behaviour towards online shopping. It commenced selling on online marketplaces way back in 2003.

Today the platform claims to have a massive online presence and drives majority of its revenues via online marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Jio Mart, Paytm, and Snapdeal.

The company has been posting professionally filmed videos that elaborate on product quality and functionality on its YouTube channel since 2010. 

JSB Healthcare aims to further scale up its marketing and introduce new products to its catalogue. 

COVID-19 served as a significant accelerant for the home-based healthcare and fitness industry. Companies that cater to the segment experienced massive tailwinds. Likewise, JSB has seen a 4X jump in revenues in this category since the start of the pandemic.

In March 2022, It raised Rs 2.5 crore from Velocity.in across two rounds of financing.

iMedrix

Bengaluru-based healthtech startup iMedrix started operations in 2018, and is revolutionising cardio healthcare by pioneering the mobile electrocardiogram by incorporating AI, ML and cloud computing for quick diagnosis and accurate clinical decisions. 

It provides diagnostic solutions producing clinical grade ECG traces with device accuracy proved in more than five million ECGs across 14 countries, through its cutting-edge technology, 'KardioScreen'.

The US FDA-cleared, mobile-connected ECG/EKG device simplifies the process of heart monitoring and risk assessment in a wide variety of in-hospital, emergency response, home care, primary care, and outreach settings.  

One needs the device (KardioScreen) and mobile connection to detect any related heart condition, and seek a cardiologist’s help immediately without rushing to a hospital. Results are displayed on the smartphone and reports uploaded on the cloud.

The device's R&D and manufacturing is in India, and it has partnered with more than 150+ hospitals across the country. AIIMS and several other government-associated medical institutes are also using their product for early detection to avoid losing patients to cardiac conditions. 

The company has recently been identified by Medtronic APAC as a promising startup, and secured $200,000 from Medtronic APAC, which helps accelerate market access for products to address the world's most complex healthcare problems.