According to recent reports, the US-based startup accelerator, Y Combinator, has removed Indian healthcare startup Medobed from its batch. The decision was taken after discovering “irregularities” at the firm.
Medobed, a door-step medicines delivery platform, was a part of Y Combinator’s summer 2023 batch. The startup delivers medicines within 10 minutes and is available 24/7 in Bhopal and Indore, according to Medobed’s LinkedIn profile.
Medobed was founded by Piyush Sharma and Gagan Shesha in 2022 and has 13 employees, as per PitchBook data.
Apart from this, there is not much information about Medobed available online. And Y Combinator (YC) has erased all mentions of Medobed from its website.
Medobed irregularities
TechCrunch was the first to report this news. It cited an email from a YC group partner that exposed irregularities.
“If you have anything outstanding with this company, our recommendation is to disengage completely with the company. Won’t do YC demo day, and, as far as we know, haven’t raised any money as part of this process,” the email claimed.
The partner revealed concerns about the startup’s growth metrics. Medobed founders claim $1 million in monthly gross merchandise value (GMV) and EBITDA profitability that were suspicious and inconsistent.
Another concern the partner revealed was founder Piyush Sharma allegedly altering his educational history. According to Piyush Sharma’s LinkedIn profile, he is an IIT Roorkee and Stanford University alumnus.
While YC has removed Medobed from the batch, the partner has also intimated other investors to avoid any engagement with the startup.
The action highlights there might be severe concerns with Medobed, which have not been publicly revealed. Neither Y Combinator nor Medobed founders have given any media statement for further clarification.
About Y Combinator
Y Combinator is a globally renowned startup accelerator that provides startups with guidance, intensive training and investment opportunities. Every year, YC conducts 2 batches of accelerator programs with over 200 startups in each batch.
YC receives over 10,000 applications for each batch and does meticulous evaluations to select a few hundred of them for the program. It’s the first time that the accelerator has removed a startup from its batch.
India has become YC’s key market in the last 8 years. The accelerator has supported over 200 Indian startups, including Razorpay, Groww, Clinikally, Veera Health and the most recent one CheqUPI (part of the S23 batch).
Bottomline
Instances of financial irregularities and founder frauds among Indian startups have been on the rise since 2022. With such instances unfolding at a globally renowned accelerator, Indian startups may face higher scrutiny by foreign investors. It may hamper trust and opportunities for Indian startups.
