Startup news and updates: daily roundup (February 16, 2024)

Sukoon Health starts offering cashless insurance for inpatient care

Sukoon Health Hospital has announced an initiative to provide cashless insurance coverage for patients seeking psychiatric inpatient care.

To avail cashless insurance benefits at Sukoon, individuals are required to undergo a minimum hospitalisation period of 24 hours, acting as the necessary duration for initiating insurance claims within the mental health coverage. 

Certain treatments, such as those for alcohol dependence, substance dependence, self-harm, and talk therapy, are excluded from coverage and are ineligible for cashless insurance benefits.

Sukoon's mental health insurance offers coverage for a wide range of conditions, including bipolar disorder, acute depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, mood disorder, psychotic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. 

Kotak Mahindra Bank, NSRCEL-IIMB hosts ceremony for Women Startup Programme

Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, and NSRCEL, the startup hub at IIMB, celebrated the valedictory ceremony for the fourth cohort of the Women Startup Programme in Bangalore. 

The event acknowledged the achievements of 15 startups elated to receive the third phase of grants. Each venture was granted Rs 5 lakh, while an additional Rs 5 lakh was granted to six special category founders in recognition of their overall progress since the beginning of the program. In total, the funds disbursed by the programme amounted to Rs 2.75 crore. 

In addition, the entrepreneurs from the program have successfully secured external funding totalling Rs 1.8 crore.

Some 267 shortlisted women entrepreneurs were selected for incubation for 12 months by NSRCEL based on their prototypes and pitches to the screening committee. 

The programme aims to support ambitious and innovative women entrepreneurs by enabling them to transform their ideas into successful business ventures. The Women Startup Programme has catalysed over 23,053 women helping them develop entrepreneurial and managerial skills. 

CarePay says it recorded 100% month-on-month growth in 2023

CarPay, a fintech platform for the healthcare ecosystem, has claimed that it recorded 100% month-on-month growth in 2023. The platform is expected to grow at a rate of 50%-70% month-on-month in the current quarter.

CarePay claims to have recorded $10 million worth of annualised transactions. It has onboarded about 400 merchants in the last two quarters. It is anticipating onboarding over 10,000 healthcare merchants by the end of this year. 

The startup raised pre-seed capital of $850,000 in August 2023 from Powerhouse Ventures, GSF, Bharat Founders Fund, 77 Capital, Untitled Ventures, and Amplify.

The company claims to have collaborated with over 900 MNCs and more than 1000 clinics, specialising in delivering hearing and dental prosthetic solutions respectively.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)