8 startups creating a difference in the digital healthcare space

India, being the second-most populous country in the world, still lacks an efficient public healthcare system. Tracing back the report of the 2005-06 National Family Health Survey revealed that 70 percent of the households in urban areas and 63 percent of the households in rural areas are relying on private healthcare owing to the poor quality of the public healthcare sector. Of the total number of beds installed between 2005 and 2015, 80 percent have gone into private hospitals.

With the introduction of Health 2.0 in the mid-2000s and the mushrooming of digital healthcare startups, the sector has taken new shape in the last decade. About 90 percent of the startups evaluated in 2015 were working on preventive healthcare and monitoring solutions, revealed an InnAccel’s report. Hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, tele-medicine, medical tourism, health insurance and medical equipment collectively form the pillar of healthcare sector.

Today, diagnostic centres, hospitals and doctors can be accessed by just a swipe on a user's smartphone. Here are the list of some healthtech startups that simplify the way healthcare services are received, by managing the medical records of the users and creating a comprehensive platform to address healthcare needs.

eKincare: Founded in 2014 by Kiran Kalakuntla and Sunil Motaparti, Hyderabad-based eKincare helps users encrypt their health records and keep it on the cloud — where they can access the dashboard anywhere, using a PC or a mobile device. eKincare gathers medical results from various healthcare providers, updates profiles, and provides a single repository for users to store all their medical records. Currently, it has a team of 21 employees.

Medibox Technologies: Founded by Bhavik Kumar and Kapil Kanbarkar, Bengaluru-based Medibox allows patients to search for healthcare facilities such as pharmacies, hospitals and blood banks across India. It is a cloud-based solution with a mobile application that is compatible with any portable device. It has tied up with 1.7 lakh pharmacy retailers, 20,000 pharma and healthcare product suppliers and one lakh healthcare marketing companies. Currently bootstrapped, Medibox has a team of 20 employees.

Medikabazaar: Founded in 2015 by IIM alumnus Vivek Tiwari, Mumbai-based Medikabazaar is a marketplace for all medical and healthcare needs. It operates in both B2B(for hospital and medical institution supplies) and B2C(for home health medical devices and aids) segment. The startups has more than 26,000 products and 5,000 plus signed up hospitals. With 5,000 medical establishments, sellers can post and sell their products via Medikabazaar platform. Currently, the startup has more than 50 employees and it is looking to raise Rs. 300 crore soon.

Medical Unique Identity: Founded by Mayank Harlalka, Bengaluru-based Medical Unique Identity manages personal health information to deliver quality healthcare to the public. Its healthcare management professionals specialise in protecting personal health information and records in hospitals, diagnostic centres and other healthcare providers. It allows users to maintain lifetime health records and data. The startup helps users better understand and manage their personal health information, thereby contributing to improving the quality of medical treatment.

Thrymr Software: Founded in 2013, Hyderabad-based Thrymr Software is a cloud-based platform for healthcare delivery. It has two products MedNetwork and eRx. MedNetwork interconnects doctors, patients, clinics, pharmacies, diagnostics centres and blood banks. Currently, the startup has a team of 60 employees. eRx is an offline solution to address all business needs where Internet is not required but has multi-layers of security to manage healthcare data and keep track of all the ongoing activities with real-time activity log. It is looking to raise $5 million by mid-2016.

Rxpress: Founded in 2015 by Madhur Gopal, Bengaluru-based Rxpress is a comprehensive healthcare management app that offers a plethora of services, like uploading prescriptions and buying medicine, pathlab medical tests, homecare, physiotherapy, doctor consultation, making available medical devices and equipment, and OTC products. It reminds patients about the timetable for taking medicines and connects them with doctors, path labs and chemists. Rxpress currently has a team of 20 employees and is in talks with investors to raise Rs 1 crore in the next two months.

BookMEDS.com: Founded in 2013 by Mohammed Abubakr, Subathra Santanam, and Sajid Sikander, Hyderabad-based BookMEDS is an e-commerce portal for medicines and medical products. The product categories include orthopedic care, home care, mother and baby care, medical gadgets, hospital equipment, contraceptives care, protein supplements, fitness and sports, homeopathy and Ayurveda, ENT, eye, and dental care. The startup aims to uberise brick and mortar pharmacies across India by enabling users to order medicines online and get home delivery within four hours. Currently, it has 35 employees. With over 325 pharmacies registered on the platform, BookMEDS is operational in more than 15 cities. It raised $2,50,000 as seed fund from Ravi Krishnaswamy (VP, Flipkart), Javed Sikander (CEO, Xtream IT), and Krish Datta (CEO, BackOffice Associates APJ).

Navia Life Care: Founded in 2015 by Kunal Kishore Dhawan,Gaurav Gupta and Shourjo Banerjee. Delhi-based Navia Life Care is a mobile application-based health management platform that visualises treatments in calendar and list views to effectively manage planning of treatments. The startup currently has a team of nine members. It has a treatment management and adherence tracking platform, aimed at increasing compliance among patients.With its templates, users can enter their treatment details and add medication entry fields for each drug in their treatment regime.

Data for the years 2000 to 2015 from the Department of Industry Policy and Promotion shows FDI investment in hospitals and diagnostic centres totalled $3.21 billion. According to IBEF, the healthcare market in India was worth close to $100 billion as of 2015 and is expected to touch $280 billion by 2020, clocking a CAGR of 22.9 percent. Of the overall market, the healthcare delivery sub-segment accounts for 65 percent. Startups like Practo, Portea Medical, MedGenome, Lybrate, Medwell Ventures have already made a mark in the online healthcare industry. The above lists of startups also seem to have joined the race to crack the business model. We are pretty sure that the list does not end here. We would love to hear about some more startups creating a difference in the healthtech space in the comments.