This startup detects nerve damage quickly

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Photo credit: Ayati Devices

Nishant Kathpal was an engineering student at IIT Bombay when a doctor mentioned that diabetic patients often lose foot sensation undetected. After building initial prototypes, three of his family members suffered from diabetic foot complications.

This personal connection drove him to launch Ayati Devices to develop accessible clinical screening tools.

😟 Problem

Worldwide, 589 million adults live with diabetes. Up to 34% of these patients develop foot ulcers during their lifetime due to undetected neuropathy or reduced blood flow.

Consequently, one patient undergoes a diabetes-related limb amputation every 30 seconds.

💡 Solution

Ayati Devices builds portable screening instruments that combine multiple diabetic foot complication checks into a single workflow, including:

• Vibrasense measures sensitivity to vibration and temperature to evaluate nerve function.
• Vasosense calculates ankle and toe-brachial indices to assess leg circulation.
• Podiasense generates visual maps of under-foot pressure to highlight heavy-load areas.
• Angiocam uses laser technology to show real-time blood flow in small vessels.

Image credit: Ayati Devices

📊 Market size

Clinical guidelines increasingly recommend routine foot screenings for diabetic patients. The startup targets over 10,000 healthcare institutions across India and initial international markets.

A typical high-volume customer can screen 1,000 to 3,000 or more patients annually. At about ₹150 (US$1.58) per test, that is ₹1.5 lakh (US$1,576) to ₹4.5 lakh (US$4,729) in annual recurring revenue per customer, before device and software revenue.

🤝 Team

• Nishant Kathpal. Co-founder and CEO. He previously worked as a researcher at BETiC at IIT Bombay, where he and his colleagues found a solution to diabetic neuropathy.
• Rupesh Ghyar. Co-founder. He spent 10 years as a senior research scientist at BETiC, IIT Bombay.
• Bhajish Bharathan. Head of medical affairs. He previously served as vice president of medical affairs at Neuroglia Health, the company behind the doctor community platform DailyRounds and the exam-prep app Marrow.

🚀 Traction

• Deployed over 10,000 medical devices across more than 30 countries.
• Secured partnerships with major hospital networks including Fortis, Aster, and Medicover.
• Partnered with AIIMS Delhi, a leading public medical institute in India, and Apollo Hospital for clinical validation.

🏆 Competition

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks