Unitus Seed Fund is doubling down on its StartHealth investing initiative targeting investments of INR 15 crore in 6 new early-stage health technology startups. The StartHealth program provides flexible funding, expert support, and mentorship as well as access to healthcare facilities to accelerate the go-to-market path for promising startups. Dr. Ashwin Naik, founder of Vaatsalya hospitals, will be joining as a healthcare fund advisor to help support healthcare entrepreneurs invested in by Unitus Seed Fund.
“It’s an exciting time to be a healthcare entrepreneur in India. The opportunities are immense and there is potential to build deeply impactful businesses,” said Dr. Ashwin Naik, Founder, Vaatsalya. “Unitus Seed Fund with its focus on early stage impact focused investing is a pioneer in this space and I am honored to assist the team to expand their reach and impact. I hope to use my experience as an entrepreneur to support the growth of the healthcare startup ecosystem.”
“We are excited to be a part of the StartHealth initiative embracing the belief that disruptive technologies are the key to increased healthcare outreach,” said Dr. Vivek Ahuja, Director, PATH India. “PATH hopes to bring its extensive global health expertise to help accelerate the go-to-market efforts of entrepreneurs seeking to transform the healthcare sector in India and beyond.”
“We are expanding our StartHealth investment program in response to the growing number of promising health technology startups we are seeing in India,” said Dave Richards, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Unitus Seed Fund.
Earlier this month, Unitus announced StartHealth Competition 2, a global 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. The winner will receive a cash prize of INR 10 lakhs and an opportunity to earn an additional INR 50 lakhs of non-dilutive capital as well as up to INR 2 crore in investment.
UE LifeSciences, a current StartHealth program participant, announced earlier this week that it has raised INR 19.5 crore in Series A funding led by Aarin Capital with Unitus Seed Fund also participating.