Finalists will make pitches for up to $500,000 in funding
NEW DELHI, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HITLAB, in
association with StartHealth, an initiative of Unitus Seed Fund and
part of India's leading impact
venture fund investing in early-stage startups innovating for the
masses, today announced the 2018 HITLAB World Cup: India. Innovators worldwide are invited to
submit their original technology-enabled healthcare solutions and
finalists, selected by a panel of healthcare experts, will have the
opportunity to make pitches for up to USD $500,000 (INR 3.5
crore) in grants and equity funding. The pitch event will
take place during the HITLAB Innovators Summit: India, held on February
10, 2018 at the India Institute of Technology in
Delhi.
The HITLAB Innovators Summit offers a series of curated talks,
panels, and collaboration opportunities to engage the most creative
minds in health and technology. The theme for this year's
Summit—the fourth to be held in India—is Enabling Inclusive Digital
Health Innovation and Diffusion.
"HITLAB World Cup: India
empowers innovators to translate ingenious ideas into practicable
solutions that have immense potential to improve healthcare design,
delivery, and access in India and
across the globe. We're very excited to have Unitus Seed Fund
partner with us to expand the impact of groundbreaking
innovations," said Devmalya Sarkar, Summit Director,
HITLAB.
"India ranks sixth among the 50
low-middle income nations in regards to out-of-pocket healthcare
spend. Startups are addressing this by building novel solutions to
make healthcare more accessible and affordable to millions of
Indians for whom it is otherwise out of reach. At Unitus Seed Fund,
healthcare continues to be an exciting sector, and we plan to
invest in innovative and scalable health-tech businesses over the
next three years. We've set aside INR 100
crore for this, and are very excited to partner with HITLAB
to find and nurture new-age startups in India's healthcare sector," said Milind Shah, Venture Partner, Unitus Seed
Fund.
For more than 15 years, HITLAB has helped leading organizations
ideate, create, evaluate, and diffuse technology-based solutions to
pressing healthcare challenges. It has hosted the global HITLAB
World Cup Challenge since 2006. Last August at the HITLAB World
Cup: New York, 146 applications
from 15 countries were received. Past innovations have ranged from
a tech-enabled dynamic scoliosis brace to a voice-activated
blockchain eco-system for diabetic patients and caregivers. Winners
have since raised over $50 million in
follow-on investment funding and launched commercially viable
products that transform lives.
The deadline for innovators to submit their concepts is
January 14, 2018. Apply here.
ABOUT HITLAB
HITLAB is an innovation and teaching lab dedicated to improving
the quality and accessibility of healthcare worldwide. We help
leading organizations ideate, create, evaluate, and diffuse
technology-based solutions to pressing healthcare challenges.
Our team of public health professionals, statisticians,
clinicians, engineers, economists, strategists, designers, and
anthropologists is determined to address healthcare needs across
the globe. We work with a wide variety of stakeholders in both the
public and private sectors to design and disseminate studies,
programs, and products that improve healthcare access and
delivery.
For more information, please visit www.hitlab.org or
follow the company on Twitter @HITLabNYC.
About Unitus Seed Fund
Unitus Seed Fund is the leading impact venture fund investing in
startups innovating for the masses in India. Unitus Seed Fund invests in sectors
including healthcare, education and financial services. Founded in
2012, Unitus Seed Fund is managed by Capria Ventures, which is part
of the Unitus Group, a premier financial services group operating
in India and other emerging
markets since 2000. Unitus Seed Fund is based in Bangalore and Seattle, and is a member of the Capria
Network.
Devmalya Sarkar
Manager – India, HITLAB
+91 920-505-8722
media@hitlab.org