Ratan Tata funded startup iKure in talks with investors for raising capital

Technology-driven healthcare services startup iKure Techsoft, which received funding from Ratan Tata, emeritus chairman of Tata Sons, two months ago, is currently in talks with a couple of investors for raising further capital for both domestic and international expansions and strengthening its technology solutions. This will be Series A round of funding.

The Kolkata-based startup is hoping to conclude the deal by this fiscal-end. “We are in talks with a couple of investors for raising further funds of around $5 million (around Rs 36.5 crore). We are already talking to some potential investors, both venture (capital) and strategic investors,” said Sujay Santra, founder & CEO, iKure.

“Basically, for the strategic investors, it could be a combination of equity and quasi-equity instruments as they are looking for a long-term investment. The deal should get concluded within the next three months. We will prefer to raise funds from two-three investors because it will help us strengthen our network,” Santra told FE.

After Ratan Tata invested in the startup in October in his capacity, he is now an equity shareholder of it, which delivers primary healthcare services through a network of clinics, digital technologies and frontline health workers.

iKure has covered over 4,000 villages in seven states in India till date, providing healthcare services to more than 10 lakh patients. The startup aims at creating a network of the technology-enabled hub and spoke healthcare delivery system across the length and breadth of rural India. “We are looking to serve one crore patients through the expansion of our clinics. We have plans to set up 200 clinics across the country in the next four years. At present we have 10 clinics,” Santra said.

Currently, the venture has 160 touchpoints in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Karnataka, and it plans to expand the facilities to around 2000 in the next four years. It has programmatic interventions running in Odisha, while digital health centres are operational in Nagaland.

Eight countries in Africa are using iKure’s technology solutions and it has recently entered Vietnam. It wants to expand technology solutions in Africa and south-east Asian countries. “We are looking to enter Indonesia, The Philippines and Cambodia,” Santra informed.

iKure Techsoft gets revenue from its healthcare delivery and technology platforms, corporate training programmes and research services. The startup has partnered with the University of Michigan on developing an interactive tool for maternal and child health care monitoring and routine assessment. Also, McGill University, Canada, and iKure partnered together to develop an AI-enabled framework to identify high-risk hypertensive Asian population.