Your Web News in One Place

Help Webnuz

Referal links:

Sign up for GreenGeeks web hosting
January 9, 2014 04:41 am GMT

Medypal Raises $400K In Seed Round To Help Patients Buy Affordable Healthcare In India

MedypalCommerzpoint Networks, an Indian startup that owns healthcare marketplaceMedypal, has raised around $400,000 in seed funding from Unitus Seed Fund. With this funding, Medypal will help patients find trustworthy service providers who will bid against each other for their spend on medical procedures. Medypal will use a “reverse auction” method to ensure that the services are competitively priced and patients are able to pick the service provider they want.The Medypal service will go live February 1. Healthcare is a booming industry in Indiaand is expected to reach $100 billion by 2016. The challenge, though, is to provide affordable services to millions, many of whom are not even covered under any medical insurance. Moreover, a majority of healthcare consumers in India rely on friends and family to select a service provider. By offering information on-the-go, and getting online quotes from service providers in real time, Medypal wants to change that. Commerzpoint founders P Rammohan and BrahmeshJain are no strangers to finding opportunities in India’s healthcare sector. They founded the country’s first and the largest health insurance exchange, Healthsprint, in 2006. The startup plans to make money on leads generated and passed on to healthcare service providers. “We are in the final process of signing up with 300 health care providers in Bangalore ranging from large hospitals, diagnostic centre chains to dental clinics and cosmetic surgical centres,” said Rammohan. “There is no easy way to get objective information on service provider availability, quality and pricing,” Commerzpoint said in a statement announcing the funding.”This is especially challenging for low-income families who have even less information, education, connections and financial reserves.” With more than half of India’s 160 million users accessing Internet on their mobiles, there is an opportunity to be tapped in delivering healthcare services. Medypal will be offering a free mobile app to healthcare consumers. “Using the app, patients can search for healthcare procedures, go through the list of hospitals offering those procedures, browse through the profiles of the doctors, and check the facilities offered by hospitals before finally shortlisting the hospitals,” said Rammohan.”The app will also allow patients to ask for proposals from the hospitals and book appointments while on the move.” As we reported last month,Unitus raised its second fund of $3.3 millionto help people at the bottom of the economic pyramid access basic necessities in India. The new fundinvests in for-profit startups in India.”We are investing in a team,

Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/TOP_bBe2ZHU/

Share this article:    Share on Facebook
View Full Article

Techcrunch

TechCrunch is a leading technology blog, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.

More About this Source Visit Techcrunch