Healthcare-focused tech startup iKure raises over $100K in funding

Kolkata-based startup iKure Techsoft Pvt Ltd, which is into tech solutions for delivery of healthcare services in rural areas, has raised Rs 70 lakh ($114,217) in a seed round of funding from Japanese impact investment firm ARUN LLC, Mumbai Angels and existing angels investors from the Intellecap Impact Investment Network, according to a StartupCentral report. The fund will be used to expand the company's operations to Orissa.

As part of the investment, Satoko Kono, president, ARUN LLC, will join the board of the company.

"We have evolved our model quite a bit in this past year and are focused on speedy break-even of the RHCs while making no compromises in the affordability and quality of care. ARUN LLC has helped us put in place impact measurement metrics that will help us further quantify our effectiveness on the ground. We plan to go to the market again in 12 months for our Series A raise," said Sujay Santra founder and CEO of iKure.

Founded in 2010 by Santra, an MCA from Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) in Hyderabad and incubated at IIT-Kharagpur, iKure's patent-pending software platform called wireless health incident monitoring system or WHIMS aims to bring medical facilities to rural India. WHIMS is loaded on a computer or laptop and is made available to rural people. Medical equipment is then interfaced with the software and related patient data are transferred in real time to a hospital/clinic-based doctor to monitor and advise the patient.

The company sets up Rural Health Centres (RHCs) that are equipped with doctors and health officers. Currently, it runs 12 RHCs in West Bengal and has treated over 8,000 people. The capital raised in the current round will be used to scale the number of RHCs to 25.

"We are working closely with Intellecap to scout more social enterprises across sectors to expand our outreach in India," Kono said.

Earlier, iKure had received an undisclosed amount in angel funding through the Intellecap Impact Investment Network (I-cube-N). The investment had been made by the mentors and investors of the network – Jayesh Parekh (co-founder of Sony Entertainment Television) and Nandan Maluste (president of CSO Partners).

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)