Exclusive: Immunisation management platform vImmune picked for FbStart, raises angel funding

Bangalore- and Dallas-based AsepsisLife Inc's immunisation management platform vImmune has been selected for Facebook's FbStart programme, which is designed to help early-stage mobile startups build and grow their apps.

The startup has also raised an undisclosed amount in angel investment from a radiologist certified by The American Board of Radiology.

The company will use the capital to enable inorganic growth via social marketing before approaching venture capital investors for a Series A investment, Ashutosh Prasad, founder and CEO of AsepsisLife, told Techcircle.in.

According to FbStart, the app has been selected for its "impressive development and potential for continued growth." It will receive up to $40,000 credits and free tools and services from Facebook and its more than 30 partners including Amazon, UserTesting, Dropbox and MailChimp. The startup will also get an opportunity to connect with the Facebook team and will be enrolled into the social media giant's community of global startups.

vImmune was launched in India in March this year and later went live in the US. The company was founded by Ashutosh and Vivek Prasad. Ashutosh worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Oracle, and i2 Technologies in the past while Vivek was associated with Mu Sigma before launching AsepsisLife.

The app offers free immunisation tracking for family members and provides services such as lifetime vaccination reminders and printing of immunisation summary directly from the app. The app also offers science- and evidence-based content on topics of public health importance such as vaccine safety and vaccination pain management strategy for babies to help parents make informed decisions.

The firm plans to explore revenue opportunities through business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) channels. "In the B2C model, we plan to generate revenues by offering value-based freemium services from vImmune. We also have a comprehensive product roadmap that includes a cognitive platform strategy based on proprietary algorithms. In the B2B model, we plan to license our health and wellness platform, which goes beyond immunisation, to insurance providers in a subscription mode," Ashutosh said.

The application is available for download on Apple's App Store and Google Play.

The startup was also inducted into IBM's Global Entrepreneurship Programme for its use of IBM Watson's cognitive capabilities within the platform, thus becoming eligible for $12,000 in IBM Bluemix credits.

FbStart offers a package of free tools and services designed to help early-stage startups build and grow their mobile apps. The selected startups will also get access to a community of developers, worldwide events and mentorship from the social networking giant.

Any developer who has launched a working mobile app on App Store or Google Play is eligible to apply to FbStart.

The programme provides free access to more than 25 services, including open source tools like React Native, FB Login and Account Kit and App Analytics.

According to newswire agency IANS, India is the largest market for FbStart outside the US. According to Satyajeet Singh, who leads product partnerships for Facebook in India, over 75% of top-grossing apps in the country get integrated with Facebook.

Bengaluru-based Healofy, a peer-to-peer content platform of moms and moms-to-be and JobSenz, a job search and educational content platform, were selected for the programme recently.