One-on-one mentoring from healthcare and business experts, 10 lakhs cash prize, 50 lakhs potential non-dilutive funding, and 2 crore potential seed investment
31 August, 2015. Bangalore: Following the successful completion of the first edition of StartHealth competition in the month of June 2015, Unitus Ventures, India’s leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for the masses today announced the launch of the second edition of StartHealth Competition, a nationwide challenge to identify promising early-stage health-tech startups focused on improving healthcare for India’s 20 crore families living on under INR 25,000 per month. This edition of the competition will see 30 start-ups making it to the semi-final round involving a pitch to the program partners followed by a one-on-one mentoring session; 10 out of these 30 ventures will then be selected to pitch to a jury panel consisting of healthcare experts in the Final round. The winner will receive cash prize of INR 10 lakhs. Additionally, the winner and the runner-up will get an opportunity to pitch for a direct entry to the StartHealth investment program which includes receiving up to INR 50 lakhs of non-dilutive fund, 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.
The startups will be assessed based on factors including impact on the masses, leadership & team, innovation, business model, and presentation quality. Areas of particular interest include:
- Healthcare service models enabled by technology
- Healthcare diagnostic solutions leveraging on technology innovations
Sectors include medical devices, diagnostics and therapeutics with wide primary healthcare impact, mobile monitoring, online marketplaces, app-based services and enterprise management and healthcare service delivery – all spaces where technological innovation and increased mobile-internet penetration are key drivers.
The winner of the first edition of StartHealth competition was OmiX Labs, a Bangalore based start-up developing a hand-held portable device for diagnosis and prognosis of vector-borne infection and headed by Sudeshna Adak.
“The Starthealth competition conducted by Unitus Ventures was a wonderful opportunity for OmiX Labs to get early recognition. This early recognition is helping OmiX expand its network, especially with clinical partners, and accelerate its technology development,” says Sudeshna Adak, CEO of OmiX Labs.” The competition, starting with the questionnaire, made us think through our strategy and helped us evolve our technology, marketing and business plans. For startups like OmiX Labs that are focused on serving the low-income segment, the StartHealth Competition is a real boon.”
The following are the highlights of the Competition:
- Startups may submit their application starting today. The deadline for submission of application is 1st October 2015
- 30 semi-finalists will be shortlisted based on the competition rubric and will be connected to our program partners. On 6th and 7th October 2015, the semi-finalists will pitch to teams from the incubators followed by a mentoring session
- 10 out of the 30 semi-finalists will be shortlisted to pitch to the jury on 15th October 2015, again based on the competition rubric. The winner will be announced on 19th October 2015 and will receive a cash prize of INR 10 lakh
- The winner and the runner up will be invited to pitch to Unitus Ventures for INR 50 lakhs of non-dilutive capital, expert go-to-market support from StartHealth partners and a seed investment of up to INR 2 crores
Through this competition, Unitus Ventures hopes to reach maximum large number of entrepreneurs who are working towards addressing critical healthcare gaps using scalable and innovative technology solutions or models. Applications open on August 31st 2015.
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 a new $23 million seed-stage investment fund based in Bangalore and Seattle that invests in startups innovating for the masses in India. We help startups “prepare for growth” via seed funding, strategic & operating support, providing critical connections, and securing growth capital. More about Unitus Ventures >
