Qure.ai Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai-based healthcare-technology startup, has raised $16 million (Rs 115 crore) in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
Singapore-based MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.
MassMutual Ventures is the venture capital arm of US-based insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. It recently launched its second Southeast Asia-focussed fund with a corpus of $100 million.
Qure.ai said it will use the capital to drive geographical expansion, expand product portfolio and support regulatory clearances.
“This funding round will allow us to further invest into research and development and to expand the reach of our solutions, accelerating our mission of delivering accessible and affordable healthcare to every human being,” said Prashant Warier, one of the co-founders.
The company was launched in 2016 by Warier and Dr Pooja Rao. It has been incubated by Fractal Analytics.
Qure.ai says it uses artificial intelligence developed on a database of more than seven million scans to provide fast and accurate interpretation of radiology scans, reducing time to treatment. The health-tech venture says it has a presence in about 20 countries.
“Very few companies in this category have achieved this level of both academic and real-world validation, and Qure.ai is leading across multiple use-cases and modalities,” said Ryan Collins, MD at MassMutual Ventures SEA.
Health-tech deals
There has been a significant increase in investor attention given to the broader health-technology segment. This comes as startups seek to address gaps in India’s existing system as well as adopt frontier technologies to make the delivery of healthcare and its auxiliary services more affordable and efficient.
Earlier this month, for instance, healthcare data analytics startup Innovaccer Inc. raised nearly Rs 500 crore in Series C funding from marquee investors such as Steadview Capital, Tiger Global and WestBridge Capital.
In October last year, NeuroLeap, a brain enhancement and mental health startup based in Mumbai, secured funding from philanthropist Rajashree Birla and Jindal SAW Ltd managing director Sminu Jindal.
In September, Meddo, a health-tech startup that integrates physical and online healthcare services, raised about Rs 21.53 crore. Similarly, PlusPin Healthcare mobilised Rs 5.25 crore in its seed round of funding from a clutch of investors of the Indian Angel Network including former Google India head Rajan Anandan.
AI-based startups have also received capital commitments from investors. In June last year, Wysa, a startup that focusses on mental health through the use of chatbots, raised Rs 15 crore in a pre-Series A funding round led by pi Ventures.