OVERVIEW OF THE FUNDINGS IN THE INDIAN HEALTHCARE SECTOR
The Indian healthcare sector is estimated to grow up to $372 Billion US dollars by 2022. This will raise income, better health awareness, and access to insurance. In the Union Budget of 2021, the government of India allocated a total of ₹35000 Crore for vaccination 2021 – 20212. To boost the health infrastructure the government is planning to introduce a credit incentive program worth ₹500 billion. The COVID-19 Pandemic has resulted in a pragmatic shift in the digital health segment resulting in lucrative investment opportunities, mergers, and more.
GROWTH OF INDIAN HEALTHCARE IN CONTEXT TO PUBLIC UNDERTAKING
After the pandemic, the healthcare sector has become one of the most crucial sectors in India. The country holds one of the strongest healthcare facilities with fast track development. Besides this India’s main competitive advantage lies on the availability of well-trained medical professionals at a competitive cost compared to other counties in Asia, the US, and other European countries.
The hospital industry in India is aiming to increase ₹8.6 trillion by FY 2022. in the same year, the Government of India is aiming to increase healthcare spending by 3% GDP. This will in turn widen the opportunity for well-trained medical professionals.
The pandemic has boosted the digitization of the Indian Health sector and as a result majority of the Indian startups have attracted fundings over the last year. On 6th August 2021, the Indian healthcare startups raised 69 investment deals and $1.3 billion in fundings.
Besides these the HealthTech industry has seen some huge acquisitions like the unicorn startup PharmEasy has acquired a total of 66.1% in Thyrocare in June for ₹4,546 Crore. Tata Sons have acquired 1MG Technologies.
BASICS ABOUT HOW THE INDIAN HEALTHCARE FUNDING WORKS
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare comprises the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Health Research. The budget is calculated as the sum total of money allotted to both departments.
India’s expenditure is covered by Government and Private, while a huge amount is sent to the State and Union Territories. The government also contributes to international organizations like WTO, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
FUNDING OF INDIAN HEALTHCARE SECTOR
In Q3, 2021 the health tech company raised a total of $974 million, 49 deals. The Gurugrm based HexaHealth, digitized inpatient care has raised $4.4 Million in seed funding in September 2021. Hexahealth aims to utilize the funds to address and help patients get more beyond their limited healthcare understanding.
Innovaccer is the first Healthtech Unicorn after raising a $105 million Series D round led by Tiger Global Management. Innovaccer brings cloud systems to healtech using the company’s flagship SaaS product – the Healthcare Data Activation platform to maintain medical records for more than 3.8 Million patients and save $400 Million for health care providers.
HOW IS THE INDIAN HEALTH CARE SECTOR DIVIDED?
Indian Healthcare is divided into various segments:
- Hospital supplies
- Manufacturing of Medical devices and equipment
- Care services and facilities
- Clinical trials
- Health insurance
- Medical equipment
- Outsourcing
- Telemedicine
- Pharmaceutical
- Medical tourism
The Indian health delivery system includes two major components- private and public.
The public component consists of limited secondary and tertiary care health care in cities and provides the basic healthcare areas.
The Private component provides secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care institutes in metropolitan cities, Tier I and Tier II Cities.
TOP 10 HEALTHCARE STARTUPS IN INDIA
| Company name | What does it offer? | Founding year | Founders | Products | Funding |
| Everwell | Invest, design, build and develop user-centric technology | 2015 | Andrew Cross & Bill Thies | 99 DOTS, VOT, evriMED | |
| Abi Health | Uses disruptive AI-centric technology that provides a set of solutions focussed on revenue control and optimization, smart reporting, and data science for hospitals to manage the business | 2013 | Ajit Veerappan & Balaji Sundararajan | Claimbook, Smart reports & data sciences, Spectra | Northwest Venture partners |
| Cloudphysician | Uses its proprietary technology to connect staff with specialists to monitor ICUs remotely. | 2017 | Dhruv Joshi, Dhruv Sud, and Dileep Raman | RADAR | Elevar Equity, CIE & IIT |
| RoundGlass Curofy | Medical networking app that enables the communication between doctors. | 2015 | Nipun Goyal, udit Vijayvergiya, and Pawan Gupta. | India Quotient, Spice Labs | |
| DailyRounds | Academic network of Medical doctors | 2013 | Deepu Sebin, Nimmi Cherian, and Priyanka Chobey | Marrow | Accel, Beenos Partners, Powerhouse Ventures, Microsoft Accelator Bangalore, and GSF. |
| DocEngage | Suit of products to manage the health care of hospitals, diagnostic centers, and clinics | 2013 | Abhmanikya Satapathy and Asha Satapathy | 30+ Apps, Integrations and API’s, Connected Systems and Interoperability, Forefront in Technology | StartUp health |
| Doxper | An AI-powered digital solution that allows doctors to digitize case sheets without changing in behavior and workflow. | 2015 | Pawan Jain, Randeep Singh, and Shailesh Prithani | OPD insurance, OPD setting | |
| HealthifyMe | Fitness application powered by AI to stay fit, eat clean and build a healthy lifestyle. | 2012 | Mathew Cherian, Sachin Shenoy & Tushar Vashisht | Khosla Ventures, Sistema Asia Capital | |
| iCliniq | Largest online medical consultation platform with patients across 196 countries | 2012 | Dhruv Suyamprakasam | MadhanKumar Madathupalayam | |
| Innerhour | Psychological wellness and mental health provider | 2016 | Amit Malik | Hitesh Oberoi, LightBox, Ashish Bhargava, Oxford Labs, Pankaj Sahni, and Micasa Investments |
REASONS BEHIND THE INCREASE IN FUNDING IN THE INDIAN HEALTHCARE SECTOR
- Digital adoption and hybrid model
During and post-COVID the doctors and patients have realized the importance of virtual consultation and telemedicine delivery services. This led to the immediate shift of online health checkups, consultations, and diagnoses. Healthtech now operates on a hybrid model where both online and offline services work together to provide better healthcare services.
- Increase in the usage of AI and Deep learning technology
The increase in technology such as AI and machine learning in the diagnosis segment ensures prescreening of health conditions. Now people can monitor vitals, diabetics, and pressure levels with smart healthcare devices. Doctors now monitor COVID-19 patients using IoT devices and mobile applications.
- Remote and personalized home care monitoring
WHO recommends the doctor-patient ratio must be 1:1000 but India has 1:1456. During the pandemic, India realized the necessity for infrastructural development to increase the inaccessibility of healthcare workers.
Post pandemic healthcare has become more personalized and patient-centric in nature.
- Electronic health records
The launch of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health program has led to faster diagnosis and easy access to patient health data. The pandemic has raised the need for immediate access to patient health records for remote and early treatment. The Electronic health record also helps in analysis and research about the disease trends across huge populations such as countries or states.
CONCLUSION
According to the IAMAI Praxis report “ Health Predictions 2021” the Indian health tech market is growing at 39% CAGR to reach $5 billion by the year 2023. The government has announced the Telemedicine Practice guidelines, National Digital Health Mission, and eAccess to healthcare.
