Indian digital health startup CureBay has raised INR 50 million ($6 million) in a Series A funding round led by Elevar Equity. 

WHAT IT DOES

Established last year, CureBay enables last-mile access to primary healthcare services through its hybrid care model. It runs a technology platform and a network of e-clinics that offers a range of services, including appointment scheduling, teleconsultations, medicine delivery, diagnostic test and hospital admission booking and concierge services. 

WHAT IT'S FOR

At present, it has a network of 15 e-clinics across the state of Odisha. With its fresh funding, it can now pursue its plan of opening 100 more e-clinics in the next 12 months. It also intends to hire more staff, expand to new locations, and further strengthen its platform and care delivery model.

WHY IT MATTERS

India is currently facing a shortage in its healthcare workforce, having only one doctor seeing 12,000 people – which is far from the recommended ratio of 1 doctor per 1,000 population by the World Health Organization. 

Besides that, only 28% of the Indian population has access to doctors, hospitals, and beds in major cities, leaving the remaining 72% in semi-urban and rural areas with very few sources of healthcare.

CureBay seeks to bridge this gap through its hybrid model. It assists walk-in patients in connecting with city-based doctors via telemedicine and provides access to a network of diagnostic laboratories and hospitals. It can also deliver prescribed medicines through its e-clinics.

"Our hybrid model helps in overcoming the challenges of skewed patient-provider ratios and the concentration of providers in a few urban pockets," said CEO and founder Priyadarshi Mohapatra.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Health tech startups in India continue to attract global and local investments. This latest investing round by CureBay follows recently closed rounds by Eka Care, Zyla, Truemeds, and MediBuddy. 

Two tech-driven derma startups, Clinikally and CureSkin, and the mental health app heyy also scooped up fundings this year.