Bangalore- and Coimbatore-based an online doctor consultation platform icliniq has raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Erode-based laparoscopic surgeon MadhanKumar Madathupalayam. Post funding, Madathupalayam, who was earlier associated with the venture in a consulting capacity, will join the board of  icliniq.


Orane Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd backed icliniq will use the funds for product development and augmenting the firm’s technology backbone. The startup is also looking to raise its Series A round of funding and has already initiated talks with potential investors.


Founded in 2012 by Dhruv Suyamprakasam, icliniq is an online doctor consultation platform where patients can consult doctors through queries, phone and video. It provides various channels to contact its doctors such as posting as a health query or booking a slot for real time face-to-face consultation over HD video and phone (it will be a private/secure call back).


icliniq charges patients for every subsequent query after the first question while it charges a flat fee of Rs 299 for its video and phone consultation for 15 minutes. The firm takes 21% of the total transaction charges as its fee and gives the rest to the doctor.


Patients from over 60 countries including the US, the UK, Nigeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Albania are using the platform. Currently, icliniq has about 1,200 doctors on its platform, of which close to 900 are from India and the remainder from countries including the US, the UK, UAE,  Singapore and Germany.


The company currently generates about 70% of its revenues from the US. In India, a significant portion of users is from Delhi, followed by Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. The firm currently operates with a 12-member team and plans to expand the team size.


icliniq is also working on an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled consulting assistant for doctors. Currently codenamed smartdoctor, this will ensure a faster and effective consultation mechanism by pulling up a doctor’s prior consultation history.


The startup competes with the likes of Lybrate in India which raised $10.2 million in Series A round from VC firm Tiger Global Management and Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, in July 2015.


Image Source: ShutterStock




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