Veera Health, a digital health platform for women, raised $3 million in a funding round co-led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge and Global Founders Capital. The funding round also saw participation from Y Combinator, CloudNine Hospitals’ co-founder Rohit MA, and Tinder India Head Taru Kapoor. Angel investors, participating in the round, included Benjamin Bryant, Ethan Perlstein, Holly Liu, Utsav Somani and Walter Chen.
Veera Health is also backed by global tech accelerator Y Combinator. The company’s first product is a digital therapeutics platform that helps women identify and navigate PCOS, with a comprehensive offering of medical care, nutrition therapy, lifestyle coaching and doctor support.
Founded by sisters Shobhita and Shashwata Narain in August 2020, Veera Health’s mission is to close the gap in access to quality healthcare for women by providing scientific, progressive treatments through a seamless digital platform. The founders hope to create awareness of women’s health needs and empower all women to take control of their wellbeing.
“The prevalence of PCOS in India is unfortunately enormous, making PCOS a natural initial condition for Veera. Within a matter of days Veera can diagnose, treat and bring peace of mind to those women suffering from PCOS who otherwise would still be seeking help or wondering where to even begin,” said Sean Doolan, partner at Global Founders Capital, co-leading the investment.
Veera Health’s first route to expanding healthcare access is by targeting PCOS. While the common chronic condition purportedly affects one in five women in India, fewer than 30% are clinically diagnosed. The variety of symptoms adds to the complexity – from irregular periods and weight gain to mood disorders, acne and excessive body hair. If left untreated, it can lead to diabetes, infertility and even endometrial cancer. Most women with PCOS waste years and tens of thousands of rupees hopping between doctors, diet plans, gyms and unproven supplements, without seeing any change in their symptoms.
“I was extremely frustrated by how long it took me to get diagnosed with PCOS, get proper medical advice to manage my condition. Even after trying multiple doctors, I felt like I was in the dark about how to actually treat my symptoms. There’s definitely a lot of judgement in the Indian context as well. We hear story after story from our customers about how they were body-shamed or told to get married instead of treating PCOS,” said Shobhita Narain, COO and co-founder.
The company’s subscription-based programme is designed to address the most frustrating issues with PCOS. Patients of Veera Health are provided with a holistic treatment plan, administered by a team of doctors specialising in PCOS, including gynaecologists, nutritionists, dermatologists and mental health experts.
“Our vision is to start with PCOS and continue to expand to additional women’s health conditions. Being part of the target market ourselves, we understand the issues better than anyone else and are excited to build something that we can ourselves use in our lifetime,” said Shashwata Narain, CEO and co-founder.
Each plan is customised based on the patient’s medical history, past interventions and lifestyle preferences. A dedicated care manager also supports and tailors the experience for the patient through their journey.
“Women’s health is a large intuitive space and this unique focused approach from team Veera has the ability to make a deeply meaningful impact through early access, information, support and planning for not just detection but overcoming such health markers,” said Rohit MA, co-founder of CloudNine group of maternity, childcare, and fertility hospitals.
Prior to founding Veera Health, Shashwata helped grow consumer and health companies at McKinsey & Company. She has an MBA from Wharton and studied data science at Yale University. Shobhita spent several years working with leading healthcare companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Accenture Life Sciences and UnitedHealth and studied Biology and Psychology at Tufts University.
Veera Health is part of Surge’s fifth cohort of 23 companies that have developed new digital solutions to help companies and individuals work, live and learn better in a rapidly evolving Southeast Asian landscape.
Source: Business-Standard