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Module Innovations wins StartHealth Competition 3

Written by Capria Admin
May 4, 2016

Over 170 applicants innovating in healthcare technology, three days of bootcamp, ten finalists, and an incredible pitch fest with seven eminent jury members

4 May 2016, Bangalore: Health-tech startup, Module Innovations, a low-cost portable point-of-care diagnostic device for microbial infections, was announced the winner of the intensive, two-month long StartHealth competition, hosted by Unitus Ventures, India’s leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for the masses. The startup received a prize of INR 10 lakhs and an opportunity to pitch for Unitus’ StartHealth investment Program that includes up to 50 lakhs of additional non-dilutive funding, an investment of up to INR 2 crores from Unitus Ventures and go-to-market support from StartHealth partners Narayana Health, Manipal Hospitals, PATH and Pfizer.

The runners-up for this competition were Theranosis LifeSciences Pvt Ltd., a portable lab-on-chip oncology diagnostic device developer, and Ray iCare, developer of an IoT-enabled device for monitoring respiratory patterns.
StartHealth Competition #3 Jury Panel
Module Innovations is a startup with a well-balanced team, supported by an advisory board of industry experts and a product of a leading incubator. Given their deep understanding of challenges and opportunities for point of care, rapid diagnostics for infectious diseases, they are on the right track to create innovative low-cost solutions for the masses,” said Padma Chandrasekaran, member of Investment committee at Unitus Seed fund and an angel investor who was also a part of the Jury panel for the competition.

“It is encouraging to see that a platform like StartHealth Program is laying foundations for a stronger healthcare venture ecosystem through the competition and subsequent mentorship support. In this edition of the competition, we also recognize the participation of several other entrepreneur teams, who are working on promising and scalable business propositions.”

This third edition of StartHealth Competition has seen the highest number of applications till date – companies aiming to take healthcare to the grassroots levels of the Indian society from over 43 cities and 4 countries. This clearly indicates the growth in the healthcare startup landscape in India. Applications were received across 9 healthcare sectors; about 38% of the companies are innovating in the domains of medical devices innovations, tech-enabled service delivery and home-health services.

The competition also saw Unitus Ventures conducting a bootcamp for the shortlisted semi-finalists in partnership with FORGE Accelerator. During the three-day workshop in Bangalore, the companies were mentored and coached on various aspects of the value chain, innovation models, and unit economics.

More about the winner

Capria - Module Innovations LogoModule Innovations The team at Module innovations is developing a point-of-care low-cost device for rapid and specific diagnosis of microbial infections like Urinary Tract Infections (UTI).

More about the Runners-up

Theranosis Life Sciences Pvt LtdTheranosis-logo-v8 Theranosis is developing a lab-on-a-chip surveillance and monitoring device capable of tracking the progress of cancer treatment using Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC) in a blood sample.

“Cancer is fast becoming one of the biggest disease-burdens in Indian healthcare; very soon it will replace infectious diseases as the biggest killer among the low-income segments of the society too,” said Kedar Medhi, a jury member and Director of Digital Accelerator at Philips Innovation Campus, Bangalore. “Given the ever-increasing need for a low-cost credible oncology diagnostic solutions, the innovation being developed at the heart of Theranosis gives us great confidence about the future in Indian healthcare. Given the experienced founding team and their strong domain knowledge, Theranosis has the potential to disrupt the diagnostic service delivery in the cancer space.”

rcRay Healthcare Pvt Ltd Ray healthcare is developing an IoT enabled non-intrusive device capable of monitoring respiratory patterns and sleep quality among patients suffering from epilepsy.

“Leveraging sensor-based technology, Ray healthcare is addressing a very critical need for monitoring chronic conditions like Epilepsy,” said Ganapathy Venugopal, a jury member and the CEO of Axilor Ventures. “Given the lack of availability of trained caregivers round-the-clock, a device like iCare can revolutionize the care delivery by making credible monitoring affordable and accessible for the masses. Through the platform provided by StartHealth program, entrepreneur teams like Ray Healthcare can find the required recognition, mentoring and investment to bring about the next big transformation in the Indian healthcare ecosystem.”

Other finalists of this edition include:

LabP53: SaaS based genomics platform for personalized and evidence based cancer therapy.
Disease Diagnostic Group: A portable low-cost device for diagnosis of Malaria, TB, HIV and Sepsis using magneto-optical properties of the parasites’ hemozoins.
BendFlex Research and Development Pvt Ltd: micro-gripper device coupled with ultra-sensitive force sensor for cellular-level applications such as IVF and single-cell diagnostics.
Docturnal: Low-cost intelligent algorithm-based detection mechanism for TB using sound of patients’ cough.
Yostra Labs Pvt Ltd: Portable sensor-based device for accurate and early diagnosis of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy.
Oxys Technologies Pvt Ltd: Low-cost strip based glucose monitoring mechanism that uses HbA1c parameter.
Turnaround Health Prediction Solutions: Image-processing device for anthropometric assessment of students in schools based in rural areas.

About StartHealth 

StartHealth program was launched by Unitus Ventures, Pfizer Inc., PATH, Manipal Hospitals and Narayana Health in early 2015. This is an innovative program to provide up to INR 14 crore (US$2.2 million) in non-dilutive capital and venture seed 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. It also offers for-profit healthcare startups with hands-on support, access to expert advisors and medical facilities, enabling them to more efficiently and effectively complete development and scale their operations in India.

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