Dermatology-focused Clinikally raises $2.6M from Y Combinator, Tribe Capital and others

Gurugram-based dermatology-focused platform Clinikally has raised $2.6 million from Y Combinator, Tribe Capital, Goodwater Capital, Sequoia Scout Fund, and Rebel Fund.

A slew of angel investors including Dropbox Co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, CRED Founder Kunal Shah, BloomTech (formerly Lambda School) Founder Austen Allred, Former Y Combinator COO and Applied Intuition Co-Founder Qasar Younis, also participated in the round.

Clinikally will use the fresh funds to build the platform to become more robust and cohesive, strengthen telehealth technology and beef up omnichannel capabilities with offline clinic collaborations, Arjun Soin, Founder and CEO of Clinikally, told YourStory.

It will also work towards improving its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered features to provide automated treatment plans from condition-specific diagnostics and questionnaires which were built using a proprietary database of prescriptions, the founder said.

Currently, the healthtech startup's e-pharmacy uses AI to offer recommendations for certain over-the-counter (OTC) categories.

"The idea of the automated treatment plans is to first bring back the stickiest existing users to have them test out the feature to conveniently generate product regimens matching their specific requirements, hence strengthening the basis for and delight factor underlying repeat usage," Soin added.

The company is looking to disseminate doctor-driven content widely across platforms like WhatsApp and Clinikally's community blog platform soon.

Founded in 2021, Clinikally connects consumers with licensed dermatology practitioners who recommend products and personalised treatment plans that cater to individual clinical needs across a range of conditions such as acne, hair loss, male or female pattern balding (Androgenetic Alopecia), hyperpigmentation, eczema, rosacea, melasma and more.

Soin is a recent graduate from Stanford University and has worked as a healthcare researcher at the Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging.

Clinikally's Soin said the company has served more than 4.5 lakh users across 500 cities in 21 months since the launch. All products available on the platform are strictly curated and, in many cases, formulated by doctors, according to Soin.

Prior to this round, Clinikally had raised $500,000 in funding and was backed by Shutterstock CEO and Founder Jon Oringer’s Parento Holdings, ReNew Power Founder Sumant Sinha, MapMyGenome Founder Anu Acharya, Neapean Capital Founder Gautam Trivedi, among others.

The company aims to widen its reach beyond Tier I markets and enable same-day doorstep delivery across all Tier I in India, Soin said.

“By giving a direct channel to qualified physicians and online pharmacy offering established, rigorously tested products, Clinikally’s telehealth platform democratises access to expert dermatological and wellness care like never before," he added.

He added that having the strategic global investors on board helps to resonate with the India opportunity and gives the company a huge fillip to its "mission of reimagining the future of vertically integrated, full-stack care for the specialty in India".