Cancer Care Startup Onco Raises $7 Mn From Accel, Chiratae, Others

Bengaluru-based cancer care startup Onco.com has raised $7 Mn in Series A funding round.  The investments have come in from Accel, Chiratae Ventures and Dream Incubator.

The fresh funds will be used towards building team, scaling operations and expanding customer outreach within India and internationally.

Founded in 2016 by Rashie Jain and Dr Amit Jotwani, Onco.com is an internet aggregator in healthcare specialising in cancer care. The company leverages global oncologists to provide accurate and personalised scientific advice to cancer patients at every stage of their journey.

It manages their care end-to-end by connecting them with the relevant treatment centres, doctors and labs and provides solutions to their questions and concerns throughout their treatment journey.

Dr. Amit Jotwani, cofounder of Onco.com and chief of medical affairs said, “With our platform we aim to enable the patients with the best treatment options and critical medical advisory through our multidisciplinary approach and network of cancer type-specific expert oncologists and hospitals to ensure that every patient has the best chance at recovery.”

Onco.com claims to have over 30,000 patients from 18 countries actively using the platform. It claims to have a network of over 1500 oncologists from India and the US, over 500 treatment centers (including specialty hospitals and chemo infusion centers) across India and pan-India network of diagnostic labs with cutting edge technology.

Barath Shankar Subramanian, partner, Accel India said, “Given the hugely increasing cancer disease burden and severely skewed oncologists-to-patient ratio in the country, we believe that there is tremendous work to be done in cancer care delivery. It is clear to us that the best way for effective healthcare to progress is by building awareness, collaborations and communities on a patient-centric and network aggregated business model, which onco.com does holistically.”

The company claims to handle 10,000 unique cancer cases month on month across different geographies and, currently, aims to expand its customer base and scale up the operations globally.

Ranjith Menon, executive director, Chiratae Ventures said, “Cancer is a global challenge. India alone adds more than a million patients every year. We are excited to see Onco.com developing into a vertical platform that brings all the various stakeholders like patients, clinicians, care providers, and diagnostics.”

A report by the World Health Organisation revealed that deaths from cancer worldwide are projected to continue to rise to over 13.1 Mn in 2030. In India, cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality.

Among the startups working towards supporting cancer patients is Bengaluru-headquartered OncoStem Diagnostics, founded in 2011, which is focused on personalised cancer treatment and planning through the development of tests that predict the chance of recurrence in patients.

Others players in this field include Invictus Oncology, Celon Labs, iGenetics Diagnostics, Predible Health etc.