Health Tech Startup Medimetry Raises Funding from Bluesky Capital

Faridabad-based health technology startup Medimetry has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by US-headquartered hedge fund BlueSky Capital Management.

Launched in 2014, by IIT alumnus Krishan Tyagi and his wife Dr Bhawana Tyagi, Medimettry offers an online platform for telemedicine, electronic medical records and disease management.

The company started out as an online doctor consultation platform that connects doctors with patients in real time. It is now building a digital disease management platform for chronic ailments. Medimetry has a mobile app and web portal that enable patients to chat with doctors at their convenience - from anywhere, at anytime.

Currently operational in Delhi-NCR, Medimetry plans to use the fresh capital for sales, marketing and to upgrade its digital disease management platform.

Beside Tier-1 cities, Medimetry also aims to solve the problem of accessibility and convenience in smaller towns and rural areas. Most villages do not have a hospital and residents have to travel quite a distance to access healthcare. “We want to educate these markets so that their problems can be solved through a medical app and they don’t have to travel. So the aim is to expand not just to tier 3 but rural areas as well,” Krishan says in a statement to a daily last year.

About Bluesky Capital, it is a US-headquartered investment firm that backs high-potential teams, technologies and business models with a particular focus on mobile and security-related technologies targeting the financial services and payment sectors.

Bluesky's target investment size is $200,000 to $2 million with the potential for additional commitments in follow-on financing.

Earlier this month, New Delhi-based fertility healthcare platform ElaWoman raised $3 million in series A funding round led by Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India), along with Alkemi Venture Partners.

In August, Bengaluru based healthtech firm, HealthPlix, that assists doctors digitally, had raised $3 Million from IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital.

EdTech Startup GuruQ Raises ₹ 2.5 Cr From HNIs in Pre-Series A Funding

Faridabad/Delhi-based EdTech startup, GuruQ has secured a further ₹ 2.5 Cr ($330,000) round of funding from a group of high networth individuals (HNIs). The company will use these funds for expansion, and marketing of the company.

The startup had earlier raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding in April last year.

Founded in January 2017, by Boston University alumnus Milan Anand, GuruQ is a single, simplified and cohesive EdTech platform that provides online, and offline tutoring based on global quality parameters. The company was founded by Minal Anand in 2016.

Recently GuruQ, upgraded its platform with several innovative features to further ease the tutor finding process adding options like ‘Find the Right Tutor’ & ‘Post Your Tuition Need’, ‘Group Class’, ‘Customized packages’ for students and a user-friendly ‘Scheduler’ for tutors. Another new feature on the platform is ‘Instant Class’ that can be used when students have queries or doubts and need a quick class. This option allows students to book an instant class with their current tutor to be held within the next 6 hours.

The Pre-Series A funding will see GuruQ expanding its operations in Punjab and Haryana. It will offer services in the cities of Ambala, Rohtak, Karnal, Meerut, Hisar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Chandigarh. The company’s research indicates that these areas have a wide gap between a good teacher-student connect. GuruQ teams are presently scouting these states to recruit teachers and knowledge experts for the platform.

According to Ms. Minal Anand, CEO and Founder, GuruQ, “We are delighted to have investors that understand and believe in our vision and passion. This funding is a significant milestone in allowing us to expand the business, strengthen development and create value in the market with new features. We will continue to innovate not just how our students access their tutors but also how they assimilate the learning. And our focus will always be to assure our students to get the highest quality, along with reliability & accountability.”
About GuruQ

GuruQ is India’s best digital platform that connects students and tutors to address the huge need gap of quality tutoring in India. Founded by Ms. Minal Anand, an enterprising young Finance major from Boston University, GuruQ aims to address the need for a single, simplified & cohesive edtech platform that provides online, and offline tutoring based on global quality parameters. Designed based on insights drawn from comprehensive consumer research to address the need-gap for quality tutors, the platform has been set up with a dual functionality. It helps to empower the tutoring community while also meeting the objectives of students and parents.

Last month, India's largest education technology company Byju's had raised whopping $100 million in a funding from General Atlantic India at valuation of $2 billion.

In the same month, Jaipur based SRJNA a brand of Elation Edtech Pvt. Ltd., had raised undisclosed amount in funding from US-based impact investor Gray Matters Capital under its edLABS< initiative.

~ Via Business Wire India feed

Lenskart Picks Up Minority Stake In US-based 3D Face Modelling Startup Ditto; Invests $1 mn

India’s leading online shopping portal for eyewear, Lenskart, has pumped in a whopping $1 million in US-based eyewear e-commerce startup, Ditto.com to pick up a minority stake in the firm.

Lenskart, which is doing good business and has grown more than 200 per cent year on year, already makes use of Ditto's 3D try-on tech on its website and app. The tech allows customers to virtual try-on eyewear and make their choice based on what suits their face cut and requirement the best.

Lenskart claims to be a first of its kind online optical store in India that has made it possible to acquire a good quality pair of specs with prescription lenses for just Rs. 399, all this while you sit in the comfort of your home. With a 48-hour free home delivery guarantee and 365 days return policy, Lenskart.com has been able to establish a great reputation in the eyewear ecommerce business.

Lenskart.com also claims to have the biggest collection of discounted contact lenses consisting all top-notch brands (viz. Johnson & Johnson, Bausch & Lomb, Ciba Vision are to name a few). Since it believes in providing its customers with variety of options to choose from, they have disposable, toric, coloured or bi-focal contact lenses, basically all possible types available to choose from.

With its latest investment in Ditto, one could foresee a future where Lenskart further integrates Ditto’s tech on its platform to help better its online engagement with consumers, wherein users will be able to share different pictures of themselves trying out various eye glasses on social media platforms.

"Ditto provides us with the patented 3D virtual try-on technology... So far, the response to this service is commendable with over 10,000 trials everyday. We have been evaluating our relationship and now want to take it to the next level," said Lenskart.com Founder and CEO Peyush Bansal in a statement to PTI.

One thing that the Ditto investment tells us, is that, Lenskart is all set to increase its stake in the future and take its company to a whole other level. The Faridabad, Haryana-headquartered startup, which started its journey ten years back in 2010, has already garnered fundings from celebrated venture capitalists like IDG Ventures, Ronnie Screwvala-led Unilazer Ventures, IFC, Premji Invest, TPG Growth and TR Capita etc.

This development was first reported in Economic Times.