Anthill Ventures, HealthCare Global to support 6 healthtech startups

Early-stage investment firm Anthill Ventures and cancer care specialist HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited (HCG) have shortlisted six startups for a healthcare programme called Lumos Health, a market access programme focused on scaling technology startups in healthcare and life sciences.

Lumos Health will help the selected startups raise investments, provide assistance with mentoring and regulatory approvals, increase their customer base and generate more revenues, an official statement by Anthill Ventures said.

The six startups were selected out of over 120 applications from across 10 countries.

“There is tremendous growth of emerging technologies in the healthcare and life sciences industry globally that have a huge potential to disrupt the space,” said Prasad Vanga, founder and CEO of Anthill Ventures. “We are thrilled to work with these startups and will scale them with speed to the global markets as some of them will work on real use cases, and deploy their products in real client engagements through our tailored market access program.” 

Lumos Health is focused on scouting startups in the verticals of oncology, fertility, genomics, bioinformatics, and research & diagnostics. 

The six startups 

Alixir: Australia-based Alixir aims to replace the reliance on radiologists with artificial intelligence (AI) system that scans digital mammographs and detects breast cancer. The AI system provides an instant report with 96% sensitivity and 95% specificity. The company was founded in 2017 by Joe Logan and Benson Riddle.

AyuRythm: Bengaluru-based AyuRythm claims to be the world’s first application that can detect the naadi pariksha (pulse diagnosis) via a smartphone camera that integrates pulse detection technology and Ayurveda. It then uses an AI algorithm to recommend proactive solutions for the underlying causes and treatments of the ailments and stress-related issues. 

BiMedis: Ukraine-based BiMedis is an international medical equipment trading platform where medical devices buyers, sellers and service providers can close deals in a professional environment. The company doesn’t charge a sales commission but runs on ad revenue.

C-Test Medicals: Mumbai-based C-Test Medicals designs and manufactures a sampling tool that collects cells from the tissue in a painless fashion without any bleeding, needles, sutures, and antibiotics. It is the first in the market to provide a sampling tool to collect cells from the third layer of the epidermis (to detect oral cancers at an early stage).

Kronikare: Singapore-based Kronikare offers a mobile application along with a hardware device that uses computer vision, thermal imaging and laser for wound & tissue analysis, detecting complication and preventive care. It uses machine learning and AI to understand tissue damage, assess wounds and predict complications against traditional manual inspection.

Raybaby: US-based Raybaby is a non-wearable sleep and breathing monitor, choosing breathing as one of the most important vital signs to track. It combines a radar sensor with an AI-powered platform to create an intelligent and accurate baby monitor. The company claims that its child-friendly design fits easily in a child's nursery.