India Innovation Fund and IAN co-invest in medical devices startup Consure Medical

Early-stage VC investor India Innovation Fund and Indian Angel Network (IAN) have announced an undisclosed quantum of investment in Consure Medical, a Delhi-based medical devices startup. The Series A round was led by India Innovation Fund and Hemant Kanakia of IAN. Other co-investors include India Venture Partners, Shrikumar Suryanarayan and Saurabh Srivatsava, as per a statement.

Consure Medical was co-founded in 2011 by Nishith Chasmawala and Amit Sharma, Innovation Fellows at Stanford-India Biodesign Program (a collaboration between Stanford University, AIIMS and IIT Delhi to identify unmet clinical needs of India for emergency, trauma and critical care). Sharma is also an IIT alumnus.

Chasmawala previously worked as a process development engineer at Cordis (a medical device company owned by Johnson & Johnson) besides being part of R&D team at Kyphon Inc (later acquired by Medtronic).

Consure Medical has developed technology that seeks to benefit fecal incontinence patients estimated to be more than 16 million in India and over 100 million patients worldwide, as claimed by the company.

The company will use the investment to complete product development, execute its clinical & regular strategy and commercialise its proprietary technology. Prior to the Series A investment, the founders bootstrapped the company using grants from Stanford-India Biodesign, Department of Biotechnology and a corporate grant from Johnson & Johnson.

Hemant Kanakia from IAN will join the board at Consure Medical. Talking about the investment he said, “Consure is the archetype startup that we like to invest in – very large market, talented entrepreneur, disruptive technology platform that improves millions of lives. Consure’s affordable product is designed for both the under-privileged masses of India as well as the tertiary care hospitals of the developed markets. Consure’s product has the potential to reduce mortality, length of stay in hospitals and nursing time. Given the escalating costs of healthcare care world-wide, this is a very compelling value proposition.”

Chasmawala, co-founder & CEO, Consure Medical said the firm’s focus is to build a low cost, high quality product for the masses in India.

“Incontinence is not glamorous. Nobody talks about the problem, the pain and the agony of this benign condition. Our simple technology enables a family member to care for their loved ones in a dignified and hygienic manner. Doctors and nurses like our product because we prevent the spread of nosocomial infections and reduce operating costs. Our target market is significantly larger than we initially set out to accomplish.”

Rajesh Rai, CEO, India Innovation Fund who will also join the board said, “The company has developed a sophisticated medical device that can be positioned as a consumer centric consumable device. Cannibalizing the adult diaper market will be huge.”

India Innovation Fund is a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage, India-based firms with a focus on ICT and Life Science sectors. Promoted by NASSCOM and IKP Knowledge Park, it has various other investors including Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel. Earlier it had invested in companies like Mitra Biotech, Surewaves, Sedemac  Mechatronics, Shantani and Iken Solutions.