HEALTHTECH'S BOOSTER DOSE

Innovative business models, including diagnostics and wellness services, along with disruptive products are changing the landscape.

- By Joe C. Mathew

DEV KHARE, the San Francisco-based partner of India-focused venture capital fund Lightspeed has of late noticed a surge in the number of healthtech startups in India. Gone are the days when there were just 10-15 healthtech startups among the 3,000-odd Indian startups Lightspeed evaluated annually. Today, there are many more potential fund seekers in the segment. "In the last six months, we must have seen about 50 healthtech firms", says Khare, adding, "I don't know why, but something is happening (in this space)".

The most plausible reason is the post-pandemic acceptance of digital, tech-driven services by the government, industry and society, which has created opportunities for new digital and tech-driven businesses. 5C Network, a Bengaluru-based healthtech startup that runs an artificial intelligence-based radiology interpretation platform, illustrates this.

Launched in 2017, 5C Network's platform became an essential tool in the initial assessment of lung damage for coronavirus-infected patients as doctors scrambled to manage the pandemic in 2021. As Covid-19 cases surged, over one million chest X-rays and HRCT Thorax scans got read and interpreted using the 5C platform.

Today, 5C is a go-to platform for radiology services. Four of India's top 10 hospitals are now using their product Bionic (a suite of AI products that can look at the scan, segment organs, measure them, detect pathology and write a draft report) in the radiology department. "We are connected to over 2,500 hospitals and diagnostic centres across India where Bionic is used and are doing 200,000 cases a month", says Kalyan Sivasailam, co-founder & CEO, 5C Network. "AI in diagnostics is happening and it's creating an impact."