From doctor consultations and lab diagnoses to preventive healthcare services and tech-equipped medical devices, healthtech startups are rewriting the rules of the game.

By Jisha Krishnan

By 2022, the healthcare industry in India is projected to touch $372 billion. Healthtech startups have played a pivotal role in fueling this growth and as the startup capital of India, Bengaluru has been at the forefront of developing innovative, sustainable and flexible solutions to long-standing challenges.

From doctor consultations and lab diagnoses to preventive healthcare services and tech-equipped medical devices, these startups are bringing novel technologies such as wearable-tech, telemedicine, genomics, and artificial intelligence (AI) to the Indian healthcare system.

Here’s looking at the top 10 healthcare startups in Bengaluru that are rewriting the rules of the game:

#Practo

Started in 2008 as a software as a service (SaaS) tool for doctors, today Practo has evolved into a one-stop shop for doctor appointments, consultations, health records, insurance, and ordering medicines online. Co-founders Shashank ND and Abhinav Lal have successfully managed to scale the web-based platform such that it benefits both patients and doctors, not just in India, but across 15 countries.

#Niramai

Founded in 2016, Niramai (Non-Invasive Risk Assessment with Machine Intelligence) has developed an innovative and pain-free breast cancer detection technology that can detect tumours five times smaller and five years earlier than what a mammography or clinical exam can. Co-founders Dr. Geetha Manjunath and Nidhi Mathur used AI, machine learning and big data analytics over thermography images to develop reliable and low-cost diagnostic methods that are radiation-free as well as non-invasive.

#Curefit

When Ankit Nagori and Mukesh Bansal founded Curefit in 2016, it was a truly innovative offering in the preventive healthcare space. Today, the integrated health and fitness platform powers healthy lifestyle and holistic cure across fitness (Cult.fit), food (Eat.fit), mental wellbeing (Mind.fit) and primary care (Care.fit) through a combination of online and offline channels.

#AddressHealth

Using technology to make paediatric primary care accessible and affordable, Bengaluru-based doctors Anand Lakshman and Anoop Radhakrishnan established India’s first one-stop-shop paediatric primary healthcare service in 2010. AddressHealth takes an innovative and holistic approach by screening children for hearing, vision, dental health, anthropometry, alongside a complete medical examination, right at their schools.

#Portea

In 2013, Zachary Jones and Karan Aneja launched Portea Medical as a novel provider of in-home healthcare services in India. The same year, Ganesh Krishnan and Meena Ganesh acquired the company and developed clinical procedures in consultation with leading US-based home healthcare professionals. Today, Portea uses remote diagnostics, point-of-care devices, and remote monitoring equipment to offer hospital-quality healthcare in the comfort of one’s home.

#Grow Fit

Launched in 2015 by Jyotsna Pattabiraman, Grow Fit is an AI-powered mobile health companion that helps its users prevent lifestyle diseases. Through a combination of data science, medical science, and behavioural insights, an expert team of nutritionists, food technologists and counselors at Grow Fit offer customised diet plans, real-time health advice, therapeutic and functional foods as well as nutritional beverages to its customers.

#Forus Health

K Chandrasekhar and Dr Shyam Vasudev Rao introduced Forus Health in 2010 with the aim to eradicate preventable blindness. Its flagship product 3nethra is an intelligent, affordable and portable eye screening device that can screen a patient for common eye problems in less than five minutes. Integrated with a unique cloud-hosted telemedicine application, the startup offers a complete eye care solution platform that is available across 26 countries.

#SigTuple

Founded in 2015, SigTuple builds intelligent screening solutions to aid diagnosis through AI-powered analysis of visual medical data. Manthana, its cutting-edge AI platform, provides automated analysis of peripheral blood smears, urine microscopy, semen screening, fundus screening, retinal scans and chest X-rays. Co-founders Rohit Kumar Pandey, Tathagato Rai Dastidar and Apurv Anand are driven by their vision to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for all.

MedGenome

A pioneer in genetic testing in South Asia, MedGenome is a genomics and clinical data driven diagnostics and drug discovery research company founded by Sam Santhosh in 2013. Credited with the development of several new genetic tests, the startup offers comprehensive diagnostic solutions to researchers, doctors and hospitals as well as valuable insights into complex diseases that aid in drug discovery.

Cooey

An end-to-end mobile-based remote health-monitoring platform provider that allows users to collect, store, analyse and share their medical summary, Cooey has evolved since its inception in 2015. Co-founders Manu Madhusudanan and TP Prabhakaran are focused on connecting the dots across the healthcare ecosystem by using machine learning and cognitive systems to provide personalised insights to patients. Cooey is currently based out of Bengaluru and Texas.