healthi Looks To Reach 1.4 Mn Users With The Latest $3.1 Mn Funding From Montane Ventures

Digital preventive healthcare startup, healthi, has raised $3.1 Mn in a funding round led by Montane Ventures.

Founded in 2014 by Krishna Ulagaratchagan and Rekuram Varadharaj (RV), alumni of Stanford (US) and INSEAD (France and Singapore) respectively, the Bengaluru-based startup empowers its users to make smart choices about their health so that they can avoid chronic illnesses.

By combining scientifically validated predictive analytics, machine learning technology, contemporary design, and strong partnerships with healthcare majors and cutting-edge research, healthi has made significant strides within a short span of time and now serves users in over 180 Indian cities and claims to have grown at an impressive cumulative growth rate of 3.5X over the last three years.

Commenting on the funding, Rekuram Varadharaj and Krishna Ulagaratchagan, said, “This funding round, led by a seasoned investor like Montane Ventures, gives us the confidence and resources to power forward in our mission to empower millions of users to live fuller lives by taking control of their health. The feedback and increasing traction that we have seen to date reinforce our vision that a strong focus on user experience and the right combination of technology and analytics can effectively help users to lead healthy lives.”

The duo revealed that following the funding, the strategies for healthi would be two-fold:

• To boot up applications that empower users to understand, engage with and take control of their health. It further aims to accelerate product development efforts by significantly growing product and technology teams.
• To scale up the go-to-market efforts for the first application that as per the startup is seeing increasing traction, namely driving engaging health benefits programs for corporate employees and family members.

As claimed, about 92% of healthi’s users either liked or loved the solution offered, leading to increase in adoption rates of such programmes by up to 300% and family member enrollment rates by at least 400%.

Josh Bornstein, Partner and Director, Montane Ventures said, “Montane Ventures stemmed from the idea of supporting companies like healthi that aim to create an impact in crucial areas. We are committed to supporting them in scaling out this technology and its applications. We look forward to accomplishing new milestones together.”

healthi has been a spectre in the preventive healthtech sector and it has also rapidly scaled up to work with 120+ corporates and insurance groups to roll out preventive health programs that are engaging, insightful and impactful for organisations, employees and their family members.

With the funding raised by Montane Ventures, healthi is on track to sign about 1.4 Mn users in 2018. In addition to growing its user base in India, healthi has also attracted keen interest from providers in the ASEAN and EMEA regions for its analytics and engagement platform. The organisation aims to roll out international pilots to this end in the next 12 to 18 months.

India has been predominantly harbouring the burden of rapidly spreading non-communicable disease, making preventive health extremely important. Traditionally, the focus of healthcare in India has been curative in nature.

But as the middle-class population started increasing its spending on healthcare, it has been largely realised that prevention will play a crucial role in dealing with the current healthcare crisis in India. The role of technology which imbibes AI and digital can be leveraged effectively for the change.

According to a recent report, global preventive healthcare technologies and services market will expand at a 9.70% CAGR from 2014 to 2020, with its value rising from $72.8 bn in 2013 to $144.8 bn by 2020. Further, in context to India, the wellness and preventive healthcare as a whole, is expected to reach $23.4 Bn (INR 1.5 Tn) by FY20, according to a report by Ficci and EY.

As per Inc42’s annual Indian tech startup funding report, healthtech segment was the second most funded sector in 2017. The sector secured combined funding of $333 Mn spread across 111 deals, which is three times the amount they raised in 2016.

healthi, along with other preventive healthtech startups like CallHealth, HappyDNA, are addressing the country’s keenness to bring accessibility, affordability and efficiency through technology. Such healthtech startups could prove to be a game changer in digital preventive healthtecare-cum-healthtech as its leading the way in utilising cutting-edge technology to not just enable people to get preventive health checks but also encourage them to take action and make necessary lifestyle changes.