The Indian healthcare industry has a huge potential to grow and progress. And, the recent dengue outbreak in Delhi has only proved that the healthcare facility in the country still has a long way to go. This further means that the industry is prime for innovation and investment.
Taking the responsibility to improve the scenario of the Indian healthcare Industry scene is HealthStart, a 2013 founded incubator that claims to be India's first dedicated healthcare incubator.
The idea to setup a Healthcare dedicated incubator came to Pradeep Jaisingh, a healthcare entrepreneur, when he realised that even though there are plenty of accelerators and incubators in India, majority of them are only focused on tech and mobile. Further, having lived abroad, he also realised that pulling off a health startup in India is an extremely difficult task as compared to the west and this is when he decided to take the matters in his own hands and change the scenario.
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Pradeep K. Jaisingh - Founding Chairman of Healthstart[/caption]The Noida-based startup incubator has managed to bring together a talented bunch of people from different backgrounds as mentors. Some of the names on the mentors list are: Vivek Jetley, CEO of a Singapore-based health company, Raj Airy stems from Baxter India, Suhail Chander of IndusInd Bank, Jayant Goel, an accountant and Anil Gupta of Honeywell International. Vishal Bhansal, a doctor turned entrepreneur, was appointed as the company's CEO a year back in 2014.
According to Jaisingh, the reason behind having such a diverse bench of mentors is that finance, health, and tech are all areas that are extremely critical for health entrepreneurs. Further, according to him, It’s not just about delivering care, but also running an enterprise that is profitable.
The incubator has till now funded two batches of health startups, a total of seven healthcare companies. It has also been consciously focusing on funding businesses that solve health problems for India’s urban middle class. It's investment in startups like Gympik, which helps urbanites find gyms, personal trainers, and local yoga sessions and Tattva Spa, a holistic spa with natural remedies, are examples of its this ideology.
But, Jaisingh yearns to change this ideology and wants the accelerator to find businesses that are focused around treatment, rather than lifestyle.
Jaisingh believes that India's healthcare woes doesn't require reinventing the wheel altogether, but finding new ways to deliver care. The way the care reaches the patients needs to more innovative because the hurdles present in India are more significant when compared to the rest of the world.
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