Indian healthtech startup set up by Goibibo founders rakes in $4.5m seed money

Indian healthcare startup Eka.care has picked up US$4.5 million in seed funding from a clutch of early-stage and angel investors.

Eka.care co-founder and CEO Vikalp Sahni / Photo credit: Eka.care

The list of angel investors included MakeMyTrip co-founders Deep Kalra and Rajesh Magow, INDmoney founder Ashish Kashyap, Cred founder Kunal Shah, 314e Corporation founder Abhishek Begerhotta, Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar, Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal, Razorpay co-founder Shashank Kumar, RedBus’ Phanindra Sama and Prakash Sangam, Terra.do founder Anshuman Bapna, Tracxn CEO Abhishek Goyal, and Haptik CEO Aakrit Vaish, among others.

The seed round also saw participation from early-stage venture capital firms 3one4Capital, Eximius Ventures, and Speciale Invest.

Eka.care intends to use the fresh funds for hiring, product development, and marketing.

Founded in December 2020 by the co-founders of travel-booking startup Goibibo, Vikalp Sahni and Deepak Tuli, Eka.care enables users to create multiple health profiles, store health records such as vaccination charts for children as well as developmental milestones, prescriptions, lab reports, and scans. The platform also allows customers to share records with healthcare providers.

According to a report, the size of the Indian healthtech industry was estimated to be US$1.9 billion in 2020, and is likely to grow into a US$50 billion industry over the next 10 years to 12 years.

“In India, we are not used to storing health records digitally which results in unnecessary repeat tests and patients end up paying the higher cost for their treatment,” said Deepak Tuli, Eka.care’s co-founder and CEO. The company aims to bring about a change in mindset via its digital vault, which allows more patients to preserve their health records, he added.

See also: Why some medtech products fail to take off, despite rising healthcare spending

Eka.care was the first startup to integrate with the Indian government’s CoWIN portal, which has been central to the planning, implementation, and monitoring of India’s vaccination drive. The integration of Eka.care’s platform with the CoWIN app enables a range of services for citizens, including seamless slot booking, pre- and post-vaccination teleconsultation, and vaccination certificate downloads.