Neodocs raises $2Mn in seed round for its smartphone-based, at-home test kits
Neodocs, a health-tech startup that so far functioned in stealth, is moving out from stealth with a $2Mn seed round. The startup has developed a rather impressive smartphone-only medical testing tech for basic tests, which can be done by consumers at home, without the need of any additional hardware.
The seed round was led by Omidyar Network India, with participation from YCombinator, 9Unicorns, Gemba Capital and Titan Capital. Several notable angels participated in the round as well, such as 1Mg’s Prashant Tandon and Gaurav Agarwal, Cred’s Kunal Shah, Mamaearth’s Varun Alagh, Harshad Reddy from Apollo Hospitals among others.
Neodocs’ product, which was in stealth so far, is an instant at-home testing platform to quantify biomarkers with just a smartphone without the need for an external hardware. The startup designs custom test cards which contain different highly specific biochemistries that give a visual output in terms of colour change or intensity change at the end of the reaction. The visual change caused by the chemistry is then read by a smartphone application that captures the test image and runs sophisticated algorithms to compensate for surrounding light, camera variations, etc. giving the result that is a semi-quantitative/quantitative basis the test performed. The user can order these cards online and we send these via post. By performing a couple of simple steps to apply the sample to the test card the user can get their results anywhere, anytime.
Considering India’s large population and a still barely-coping healthcare infrastructure, there is an ardent need for scalable, digital-heavy healthcare solutions. With affordable smartphones, for as low as $25, now available across even the remotest areas of the country, Neodocs’ offering could herald a revolutionary new way to conclude basic diagnoses, connect to Government/private telemedicine systems and provide timely care to patients who otherwise continue to suffer. As a business opportunity too, India is one of the fastest growing diagnosis markets in the world, estimated to be $10Bn in size as of now and growing 20% YoY.
Founded by Nikunj Malpani, Anurag Meena and Pratik Lodha, the startup initially introduced two urine-based tests that leave no dependency on lab machines: The Kidney Care Kit and the UTI Care Kit. Even during stealth, Neodocs claims to have sold over 200,000 testcards till now and is being used by 4000+ doctors across India.
Nikunj Malpani, CEO and Co-founder, says, “India is often referred to as the chronic disease capital of the world, and this is largely due to lack of timely diagnosis. By enabling in-clinic testing Neodocs is empowering doctors to screen and diagnose patients instantly and start treatment immediately.”
The team is also working with multiple leading pharmaceutical companies like Cipla, Eris, Sun Pharma, AstraZeneca, Bayer, and RPG Life Sciences, along with the Government of Maharashtra Nashik) and the Government of Rajasthan (Ladnu) to digitalise testing across remote areas.
