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Unitus Ventures Launches StartHealth Competition with INR 10 Lakhs in Cash Prize

Written by Capria Admin
March 2, 2016

Philips Innovation Campus (Bangalore) to mentor shortlisted applicants; winners can pitch for investment of upto INR 2 crore

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2 March, 2016, Bangalore: Unitus Ventures, India’s leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for the masses, announced the launch of the third edition of its StartHealth Competition. StartHealth Competition is a pan India challenge that aims to find, nurture and fund startups that are driving inclusive healthcare solutions through innovation. The winner will receive cash prize of INR 10 lakhs and both the winner and the runner-up will get an opportunity to pitch for a direct entry to Unitus Ventures StartHealth Investment Program. Program partners include Pfizer, Manipal Hospitals, Narayana Health and PATH.

India, even today, has a lagging Doctor: Patient ratio of 0.7: 1,000 compared with WHO’s average of 2.5: 1,000. In rural India, the ratio is 1: 30,000. The need for affordable, inclusive and scalable healthcare solutions for our country is more imminent now than ever before.

The previous two editions of the competition received 236 applications. The winner of the first edition was OmiX Research and Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd. OmiX has raised an additional grant funding of INR 50 lakhs from Villgro and is accelerating their progress towards a commercial product launch. The winner of the second edition was Medprime Technologies. In the 6 months since the competition, Medprime has been able to complete their pilot study, fine-tune their device and also start working on their second device.

Medprime CEO, Samrat said, “The expert team from StartHealth gave us immensely valuable feedback regarding how to increase utility as well as market penetration of our products.” Elaborating on the need for such an initiative for the healthcare domain, he added, “StartHealth program plugs in the much needed support and nurturing gap required by companies in the medical space as they quite different from startups in other sectors.”

Competition Partners

Philips Innovation Campus (Bangalore) and FORGE Accelerator are the partners for the StartHealth Competition. Srinivas Prasad, CEO Philips Innovation Campus (Bangalore) said, “Philips Innovation Campus is glad to mentor and coach the shortlisted young aspirants of healthcare technology and assist them in their journey towards meaningful innovations to address the challenges in India.” Philips Innovation Campus will be a part of the eminent jury panel in the competition.

25 shortlisted semi-finalists will be a part of a 3-day boot camp hosted by FORGE Accelerator. FORGE will train the participants on building a high-quality investment presentation and on analyzing their business model through the lens of an investor.

10 out of the 25 shortlisted semi-finalists will be selected to pitch to a jury panel consisting of healthcare experts in the final round of the competition. The top two companies will be invited to pitch for the StartHealth investment program. The program includes INR 50 lakhs of non-dilutive funding, go-to-market support from StartHealth partners PATH, Pfizer, Manipal Hospitals and Narayana Health, and a potential seed investment of up to INR 2 crore. Sectors of interest include medical devices, diagnostics with wide primary healthcare impact, mobile monitoring, and tech-enabled healthcare service delivery. The startups will be assessed based on factors including impact on the masses, leadership & team, innovation, business model, and presentation quality.How will it work?

Competition Timeline

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25 semi-finalists will be shortlisted on April 2nd, 2016 based on the Competition Rubric. The winner and the runner up will be invited to pitch to Unitus Ventures StartHealth Investment team.

Through this competition, Unitus Ventures hopes to reach all entrepreneurs who are working towards addressing critical healthcare gaps using scalable and innovative technology solutions or models. Applications can be submitted starting today.

About StartHealth Program

The StartHealth investment program is a one of the key initiatives by Unitus Ventures in the healthcare sector, in partnership with Pfizer, PATH, Manipal Hospitals and Narayana Health. Within the purview of the program, Unitus is targeting to provide upwards of INR 10 crore (US$1.6M) in grants and investments to very early-stage startups seeking to enhance access to affordable technology-driven healthcare products and services for the low-income masses in India, followed by a venture seed investment. More about StartHealth Program >

About Unitus Ventures

Unitus Ventures is the leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for the masses in India. Unitus invests in healthcare, education, mobile & consumer, retail & e-commerce, financial services and agriculture sectors. Founded in 2012, Unitus Ventures is part of the Unitus Group, a premier financial services group operating in India and other emerging markets since 2000. Unitus Ventures is based in Bangalore and Seattle, and is a member of the Capria Network. More about Unitus Ventures >

Read more about our StartHealth Competition-3 >

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