The Indian insurance industry has witnessed significant progress with both life and non-life insurance growing at a CAGR of 17% and 14% respectively in the past five years, according to a BCG report. The total number of lives covered in this period has doubled from 12 crores to 23 crores.
Although the Indian insurance market is underpenetrated as compared to the global leaders such as the United States. There is a lot of scope for growth and with the outbreak of Covid-19, there has been a major change in the perception of Indian consumers regarding the awareness of their health and the requirement of a health insurance policy.
The pandemic paranoia has led to a near 7% increase in the intent to buy insurance globally. Moreover, research by “The World Insurtech Report, 2021” by Capgemini, stated that around 50% of the customers today are willing to consider insurance coverage from a new age player (insurtech startup).
This clearly states that the demand for the insurtech industry is rising globally and India is also witnessing the same trend. Not only from the consumer perspective, but even the investors’ are also betting more in this industry. The insurtech startups in India raised $822 million in 2021 which was 166% higher than the previous year.
Driven by the shift in the mindsets of the people for insurance products after the pandemic, simplified processes by the digital insurance players, low premium insurance offerings and increased investors’ interest, the insurtech industry in India is expected to reach $339 Bn by 2025.
Insurtech industry is in the growing phase post-Covid, with the existence of more than 110 insurtech players in the country. All these players are focused on offering not only the common life insurance offerings but also non-life insurance covering health, education, vehicle and other areas.
The focus on health insurance has risen post-pandemic with the rise in the health awareness of the people. Thus, it has been the major focus of most insurtech’s as well as healthtech startups.
About Even
Startup Name
Even
Founded
2020
Founders
Mayank Banerjee, Matilde Giglio, and Alessandro Davide Lalongo
Funding Raised
$5 million
Key Investors
Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund (led by Peter Thiel), Lachy Groom, Kunal Shah, and Nikesh Arora
Business Model
B2b-B2C
Primary Competition
Kenko
User Base
40+ Users on the Waitlist
Even, a Bengaluru-based healthtech startup, founded in April 2020 by Mayank Banerjee, Matilde Giglio, and Alessandro Davide Lalongo, is a healthcare membership company that partners directly with the top hospitals to provide fully-cashless and quality healthcare accessible to its members.
It is currently operational only in Bengaluru. The company claims that anyone who opts for being its member can avail of unlimited consultations and diagnostics, also a hospitalisation cover of 50 lakhs annually.
It has tied up with major hospital chains such as Fortis and Narayana Health. The company currently has 40K+ applicants on the waitlist and has plans to reach more than 1 lac users in major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Covid-19 not just accelerated IPD (In-patient department) but also accelerated the demand for OPD (Out-patient department) including regular doctor consultations and check-ups not requiring hospitalisation of the patient. The OPD market is expected to reach $37.5 billion by FY2024, according to research by Praxis Global Alliance.
Most health insurance companies usually don’t cover OPD expenses and the ones which cover it have immense paperwork and tiresome process, that’s where Even wants to position itself. It wants to bridge the gap and make healthcare easily accessible with its partner network.
Although the company claims to be a subscription-based healthcare service provider, it compares itself with the other health insurance providers. Let us actually compare its offering with other insurance providers and see how better it is than theirs. Let’s look at the table below to understand how Even fairs compared to other insurance providers.
Even Vs Other Insurance Providers: Which Is Better?
Parameters
Even
Other Insurance Companies
OPD
Yes
Yes
Price
High
Low
Starts from Day1
Yes
No
Exclusion of Existing Disease
Yes
Yes
Cashless
Yes
Yes
Hospital Network
21+
2k-16k
Initial Waiting Period
0 Days
30 Days
Co-Pay
0
10-30%
Age Limit
0-64 years
5-80 years
Minimum Term
3 months
NA
Cover
50 Lakh a year
5 Lakhs a year
Is Even Really Disrupting The Healthcare Insurance Industry?
It is clearly evident from the comparison table that Even is offering sort of similar or even fewer benefits as compared to health insurance at a higher price. Not only this, it excludes a lot of benefits in its membership which are otherwise included in the other health insurance companies such as Maternity care, Home health care, and AYUSH treatment.
When we reached out to the customer care executive of Even, they themselves were not clear about what is included and excluded in the membership and had to reconfirm with other team members.
The major issue with Even is that it currently has a very small partner hospital network of only 21 hospitals so the benefits of the membership can only be availed in those hospitals and although it claims that it can make possible the out of network emergency care (emergency care for members if they are outside Bengaluru), how much of it is actually possible still remains a question.
Although there is immense potential in the insurtech industry and hence, a lot of players are entering the market since public money and health is involved in it, these players will remain under the regulator’s purview. There are chances that a lot of such players may run into conflict with IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Of India) rules.
Even has a clinical establishment licence from Karnataka Government, it has partnered with Cholamandalam MS General Insurance to offer a hospitalisation expense coverage ranging from ₹5 Lacs to up to ₹50 Lacs in its premium (Even Plus) plan which comes under the group policy with the insurer.
Thus, we see that Even and other such health subscription startups buy group health plans from the insurer and onboard retail users and add them later as policy members. Thus, the insurer is underwriting the company and later underwrites the retail customer, but if in case the company faces any issue, the customer may not have anyone to go to for claiming its subscription.
Conclusion
Even though the model of health subscription is aimed to ease the process for the customers and seems intriguing, it is yet to be discovered how these subscription-based healthcare startups such as Even will sustain in the long term given the ambiguity in the regulations and highly unorganised nature of OPD market in the country which may lead to the higher risks of frauds for them.
FAQs
What is Even?
Even is a healthcare startup that provides cashless and unlimited OPD insurance health cover.
Who are the founders of Even?
Even was founded by Mayank Banerjee, Matilde Giglio, and Alessandro Davide Ialongo.
Which health insurance has the highest hospital network?
Care Health Insurance Limited has the highest hospital network. It has more than 16,500 network hospitals across India.
Healthcare is a rapidly developing industry in India and opportunities are always on the rise. The Healthcare sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors in India and by 2022 it is expected to grow up to Rs. 8.6 trillion. The healthcare business in India has grown considerably in 2021 because of the global pandemic that started in March 2020.
Looking at the current state of the world, the thing which we learned is the importance of health care. Pandemic has taught us how small things can affect our health. Equally, this also gives a boost to the healthcare business opportunity, so if you are an entrepreneur planning to enter the healthcare industry this is the right time to invest and grow in this business.
Why You Should Consider Healthcare Business in 2022
Healthcare App Statistics
Medical business ideas have become the most profitable business ideas these days. Here are the reasons to consider a medical-related business in 2022.
The Healthcare industry in India is expected to grow up to Rs. 8.6 trillion in 2022.
The healthcare sector can create employment opportunities for millions of people by 2021.
India’s medical device market size could grow up to $50 billion by 2025.
The applications of AI in the healthcare industry is progressing at a high pace. Soon India will be worth US$ 6 billion by 2021.
There are a total of 4,892 startups in the Indian health-tech space.
List of the top 14 Best Healthcare Business Ideas in India (2022)
Medical Transcription Services
One of the most well-known medical business ideas is Medical transcriptions as it listens to the voice recordings submitted by the physicians or healthcare workers and converts them into written notes. It ensures that the patients receive the right treatment and medications. Medical Transcription Services is one of the best business ideas for healthcare professionals. The recent advances in a speech to text technology are likely going to affect medical transcription jobs in the future.
Medical Records Management
One of the successful healthcare startup ideas and best business ideas for doctors in India as it can assist doctors and hospitals by managing their medical records. You can either provide full-service medical records management. You can also assist your clients by helping them to manage their medical records by training their staff.
Healthcare app
Health apps and smart health devices Usage in India
In this growing world of technology patients already have a plethora of apps to deal with, which is why making a healthcare app is a good healthcare business idea in India. So providing a holistic app to the patients that will fulfil their every healthcare need is a great approach. This approach to personal health will benefit the patients as well as the business.
Medical Billing Service
It is the right time to begin a business in the healthcare sector as Medical billing services because of the rise in insurance claims by the patients. Due to which the hospitals face the hassle during insurance claims. So to assist them and reduce the burden on hospitals. A medical biller is a person who handles medical claims for insurance companies. This will lessen the burden on the hospitals during medical claims by the patients.
Home Healthcare Service
Home healthcare services are the services that are been provided in the convenience of home to the patients. These services are provided to elderly people. Home healthcare services are less expensive and convenient. And are more effective as compared to that of the care you might get in hospitals.
There are three types of home healthcare services. Personal care- In personal care nurses are being provided to the elderly people to help them in their daily activities like bathing, dressing, and preparing meals for them. Private nursing care- In private nursing care, home-based skilled nurses are provided for long term or hourly nursing care for elderly or adults with an illness injury or disability. These services include ventilator service, nursing care, and catastrophic care. Home healthcare- In-home healthcare service the patients can request a short term physician who can help the patient to recover from illness.
The diabetic care centre is one of the top healthcare business ideas in India. The diabetic management centre has all the diabetic management facilities under one roof. It helps the patients to control their diabetes and avoid any serious diabetic complications that may arise due to uncontrolled diabetes.
Physical Therapy Center
Physical therapy is also known as physiotherapy. It is one of the allied healthcare professionals who treat patients with conditions like acute pain or soft tissue injury. A physical therapy centre is a prominent business idea that is profitable as well. You have to open a facility in which you can hire professional physiotherapists to treat the patients. They are also required by fitness centres or sports facilities.
Medical Supply Sales
Customers are always on the look for healthcare products such as medical supplies, braces and many more. You can supply the medical supplies to individual patients or to retailers. An e-commerce site is a better option to increase sales and it also helps the customers, who might face difficulty reaching the stores.
Being a Nutritionist is a profitable and less stressful job as compared to other healthcare services. a nutritionist is an expert in the field of food and nutrition. He/she advises people on what to eat to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Many organizations such as hospitals, schools and cafeterias need nutritionists.
Childbirth Services
Childbirth services are a bit complicated and crucial healthcare business to handle. If you hire an expert for the job who can make your business grow then childbirth services are a great option. The sole purpose is to attend to a woman during delivery and while birth.
Fitness and Gym Centre
Fitness and Gym Centres are arguably one of the most profitable healthcare business ideas. For both of these centres, one must find a good location and good equipment in order to attract customers. Due to Covid-19 and the increase of other diseases people want to stay healthy and stay fit. And if you are a fitness trainer you can try opening a gym.
Virtual doctor services
Telemedicine Market expected growth in India
This telemedicine market is currently on the rise especially after the pandemic, as people prefer online consultation of doctors than compared to going to the hospital. In 2021, the platform already connects over 100,000 doctors with 300 million users in over 200 cities and has helped people who don’t have time or even rural people to get good quality doctor services.
Aerobics Centre
Aerobics exercise helps in improving the human cardiovascular system in absorbing and transporting oxygen. Learning aerobics are now in demand as people have become more and more health-conscious and preferring to go to aerobics centres instead of going for medicines.
Retail Pharmacy
Annual Turnover of Indian Pharmaceutical market
The $312.1 billion pharmacies and drug store industries are expected to increase in the next five years. Retail pharmacy includes facilities that dispense over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs and also includes operations that deliver prescriptions to patients at discharge, as well as mail-order pharmacy services.
Conclusion
These are the Top 14 Healthcare Business Ideas For Entrepreneurs in India. There are many business opportunities in the healthcare sector regardless of rural, suburban, or metro cities in the coming future. For any entrepreneur planning to start a healthcare business in India, it is the right time to commence your business.
FAQs
What is the healthcare business in India?
The healthcare sector consists of businesses that provide medical services, manufacture medical equipment or drugs, provide medical insurance, or otherwise facilitate the provision of healthcare to patients.
What are the medical business ideas for 2022?
Retail Pharmacy
Aerobics Centre
Virtual Doctor Services
Child Birth Services
Nutritionist
Fitness and Gym Centre
What are the best future business ideas for healthcare?
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Cikitsa.
In the past, the healthcare and beauty industry has been flexible, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted both sectors globally. The healthcare and beauty industry in India is expected to exhibit huge growth in the coming years. People are getting concerned about their health and beauty which makes them choose herbal and natural products over chemical products. The herbal product market is expected to grow at a CAGR 38.5% to Rs.14 billion (US$ 188.6 million) by 2026. Cikitsa has promised to bring well researched quality products to the world. They have aim to provide truthful beauty and healthcare products from Mother Nature.
Read the startup story of Cikitsa, Founders, ideation, its products, and more about Cikitsa.
Cikitsa is a Cochin based Beauty and Healthcare startup founded in 2020. They offer products inspired by ancient science of healing.
At this time, their hero product is Cikitsa hair oil that caters to customers who are seeking to alleviate an array of hair issues while promoting hair growth. In addition to that, they have a selection of other nature-based products that cater to a wider audience.
The company’s short-term goal is to ramp up their product from an eCommerce business to brick and mortar stores spanning across the state. In the next year or two, they are anticipating the launch of their product in some of the flagship stores across the country. With due time and continual growth, it won’t be long before Cikitsa hits the international markets.
Their core beliefs guide them and help formulate their convictions, their values, and their code of ethics.
They diligently spend time in bringing the best of nature to their customers in the most unaltered form- from soil to shelves. They are guided by the desire to provide 100% organic, natural, and efficacious products that address their customer’s concerns within a budget.
Cikitsa – Founder and Team
Cikitsa Founders – Fazal Rahman and Thamanna Jabin
Cikitsa was founded by Fazal Rahman with his co-founder Thamanna in 2020, the very year they got married. Right from the inception to this date, her support and contributions to the making of the brand have been nothing short of irreplaceable. Her know-how of the cosmetic space with her passion for all things creative has helped us position themselves in a commendable way.
Thamanna takes care of and heads the creative and marketing side of things, Fazal Rahman takes on the general operations and financial side of the business.
Cikitsa – The Idea and Startup Story
Enterprising, inventive, and extremely driven, Cikitsa’s founder and CEO, Fazal Rahman has always been unafraid when it comes to heading the path less travelled. That would explain why he wanted to venture into the relatively daring task of setting up his own business, despite enjoying comfortably mighty success in his family business. Thus, in many ways, Cikitsa was conceptualized by the founder’s towering entrepreneurial mindset.
That, coupled with his drive to create a natural, sustainable, and eco-friendly brand that fostered conscious living, Cikitsa was quick to peek through. When he shared the business idea with his immediate family and close friends, the love, support, and encouragement sure gave him the extra nudge to follow through with the plan. To set the wheel in motion, he was quick to identify the prizable and yet often untapped potential of amalgamating Ayurveda into cosmetic products. Thus began extensive research to identify the needs and pain points of their target market. To ensure maximum quality and stringent safety regulations, he sought expert opinion each step of the way.
Time, energy, and money were invested in formulating, manufacturing, and designing the product to perfection. From sourcing the raw materials right through packaging, binding standards are ensured to provide the best quality products that tackle customers’ pain points without burning a hole in their pocket.
Cikitsa – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Cikitsa Logo
When setting up the brand, they were dead set on choosing a name that best represented the intent and purpose of the brand. Because of that, they were bound and determined to steer clear of any and every westernized name.
Cikitsa was ideated from the Sanskrit word ‘Chikitsa’ which loosely translates to salving therapy or resurrective healing. Considering that it was much in line with their brand and ethos, they didn’t have to think twice and wound up using it without second thoughts.
Cikitsa – Products
Cikitsa Hair Oil
At present, their hero product is none other than Cikitsa hair oil. In making this product viable they have fortified pioneering research, ingenious formulas, and synergetic herbs to alleviate irksome hair issues such as dandruff, dryness, lice, postpartum hair loss, etc, and in the course of time, promote hair growth.
Right from sourcing raw materials through packaging, they take care to stand by their pledge to offer products that are as close to nature in non-prescription formulas. They provide safe, thoroughly researched solutions with no side effects.
As soon as the product was ready to be sold, they reflexively sprang into action and started promoting it on their Social networks. They reached out to their network, both personal and professional, to get the word out about their launches. While the first few purchases came from friends and family, the word fast caught on and they ended up seeing good traction without any paid marketing.
Thus, by simply leveraging their online presence and harnessing the power of word-of-mouth marketing, they were able to expand their reach and expand their customer base quickly.
By being hell-bent on tracking and analyzing customer behavior and metrics, they were able to continually make progress. They kept an open mind while listening to their customers’ feedback and were quick to act on their key concerns and suggestions. Not only did this help us in retaining existing customers via repeat purchases, but also furthered positive reinforcements around their product, and attracted new customers.
They were also quick to create an attractive and functional website to bolster their customer experience further. Launching its website helped us streamline the purchase process, and made placing an order with us a lot more convenient and hassle-free. That, along with implementing good SEO practices and regularly optimizing their web pages for search, they were able to drive a lot more traffic and in turn, more customers.
Cikitsa – Challenges Faced
While setting up my business, we, as a team, had to tackle several roadblocks to get where they are today. While most of them were anticipated hiccups, their journey was not without major challenges.
One of the trying issues was procuring licenses for their products. While getting all the required paperwork for a business is often always tedious and time-consuming, it took us quite a while to wrap up the documentation towards legal compliance. But by being proactive and consistent in their approach, they were able to speed up the process and make things happen.
Another taxing challenge came in the time of the pandemic when their day-to-day operations were largely disrupted and they were forced to slow down. Nevertheless, their timely interventions and re-direction helped accelerate their recovery.
Cikitsa – Advisors and Mentors
When Cikitsa was in its early inception stages, the brand very much benefited from the mentorship and guidance of the directors of my family business. Seasoned professionals and experts in their own lane, they sure helped me navigate the business in the right direction. Even to this date, their timely inputs and pointers continue to steer this business to greater heights. It would also be worthwhile to mention the invaluable feedback and suggestions from my family who are weathered and accomplished business veterans themselves.
All things considered, the future sure looks bright for Cikitsa. From newer and better additions that customers love, we’re committed to building a brand that’s synonymous with the good old glory of nature.
In the next few years, they see themselves diversifying their product portfolio and launching thoroughly researched & effectively formulated products to the market. With due time and steady progress, they definitely are going international to cater to a larger customer base across the globe.
FAQs
Who is the founder of Cikitsa?
Fazal Rahman and Thamanna Jabin are the founders of Cikitsa.
This article is contributed by Mr. Harminder Singh Multani, CEO of MyDentalPlan Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.
The dental care industry is in an abysmal state! According to the Indian Dental Association, only 2% to 3% of the Indian population visits the dentist on a regular basis, and further adding to the jarring reality, only 50% use toothbrushes and toothpaste for regular oral routine. Conversely, there are about 2 Lakh registered dental graduates in the country with 95,000+ actively practicing dentistry. Annually, the tally rises in this ever-growing sector with approximately 12,000 – 15,000 new practices starting.
As per the surveys carried out, more than 70% of the Indian population suffers from some or the other oral problems that need attention and these are problems that will not self-heal themselves. More than 50% of children suffer from dental caries in India, about 40 – 45% go for Root Canal Treatment. Additionally, more than 65% of all dental procedures are carried out around Root Canal Treatment – which points to utter neglect, such that a small cavity was allowed to develop into a Root Canal Treatment.
A developing nation with 138 Crore people can’t afford to have such a poor state of oral wellness. There is a need to spread more awareness about the importance of oral health and encourage people to seek help when they need it.
Why India’s population suffers from dental complications?
All these problems stem from ignorance. People in India have a tendency to ignore the significance of preventive oral care and of course treatment of minor dental issues in a timely manner. The majority of people avoid or delay taking assistance for dental problems from the fear of exorbitant fees charged at the dental clinics. ‘It will go away on its own this approach may work when one has a fever, cough, or cold because in most cases even if one does nothing about it, it will probably go away. However, a toothache or a gum problem is different. Early signs of any dental trouble must be tended to earliest, else it will only return as a bigger problem.
To summarise, about 99% Indian dental market is private with no motivation or check to keep the quality of dental services, the skill set of the professionals, and their work ethics at the highest standard. There is a need for transparency and standardization not just to monitor the health care service providers and practices but to also maintain demanded costs at the said clinics.
Transparency and standardization in healthcare will allow the patients to get a genuine estimate of the cost and legitimacy of the practicing clinics. A few clinics may offer lower prices to cut corners on hygiene practices that can cost a lot more in the long run. Additionally, standardization reflects the quality of the clinic and the skill levels of the clinician.
It enables predictability in the pricing and offering of bundled healthcare services and provides a structural method that saves time and makes it easy to decimate thoughtful ideas thus bringing innovation. Standardization has the potential to drive dental insurance, which is missing from the Indian health insurance landscape thus adding a larger customer base. In India, there is no provision to have dental health included in the medical insurance, unless it is an accidental case.
General oral health will positively improve with more people coming in for preventive care, which could improve significantly if there is insurance available for it. It is evident that help with finances will kill the postponement of those urgent treatments that are required today. A stitch in time saves nine.
Technological Advancements That Will Further the Cause
Tele-dentistry – Tele-dentistry is handy to offer dental service remotely via the internet to those who do not have access to quality dentists. It certainly is very useful for people living in rural or rough terrain areas where dental offices cannot be found easily. It allows the dentists to record the complaint, capture images (if and when required), and send information to their colleagues for gathering opinions. Consultation is through video chatting and, if a dentist finds a problem, they can advise a visit to a local dentist for further assessment
Intra-Oral Camera – Many dental patients have a complaint that sitting in the dentist’s chair with their mouths open for a long time is uncomfortable. For this, Intra-Oral camera technology is helpful. It allows the dentist to use the dental mirror along with the camera to look inside the patients’ mouths, which eventually reduces the discomfort. The images are seen on the camera’s screen.
Artificial Intelligence – Artificial intelligence technology has become essential to nearly every industry. Even the dental industry is using it in a transformative way. Researchers are looking into ways to utilize AI for diagnosing dental problems through reading scans and X-rays. It is expected that AI will help in saving money and time for both the medical professionals and patients in going through dental records. It will also aid in a more careful and competent diagnosis of dental problems because of the reason that it could predict unknown and unseen issues.
Technology has been significantly adopted in the dentistry industry to help improve the quality of care. The better the technology, the easier the services can become.
The pandemic started to spread across the world’s boundaries in about march of 2020. It soon accelerated lockdowns all over the world. Major and minor, both types of cities came to a standstill. Not only this, people were confined to their homes. We spent an enormous amount of time inside our houses.
Nothing stopped the pandemic too, thanks to technology. Essentials, medicines and other things were shared and delivered with the help of technology. With these advancements, technology came to us as a saviour. The only thing that jumped to the back seat was health. The health of people all over the world took a toll because of excessive screen time and the sedentary lifestyle we all were having during the covid 19. The virus is still not gone and the sedentary lifestyle still continues.
If you look at the data of shipments of the wearable industry in India, you will notice a steep trend. That graph shows that people are buying products that help them track their health statistics. This in turn means that people are slowly becoming vocal about the fact that their health is the most important asset that they own.
Many wearable brands are trying to capitalise on this trend of health consciousness. One of the players that are trying hard and equally shining is GOQii. You probably have already heard of this company. It has been very vocal about health and fitness, as they make fitness-related products. This is the article that covers the story of the ‘getting popular’ brand GOQii. Read this to know the man behind this innovation and the mission with which they operate.
GOQii is a fitness technology company. It is an Indian company in the sense that the brand is operated and even was generated by an Indian entrepreneur. However, it is an Indian company, it is headquartered in California. This fitness technology company offers a band of services and products that cover overall aspects of health for a person. It has smart wearable devices (Like a smartwatch or a smart fitness band). That device is coupled with a mobile app that works like the command centre for that wearable device.
GOQii Smart Watch
The unique thing about this company working in the health and fitness sector is that it offers a “coach” to every user. GOQii wearables and the android app has ‘personalised remote coaching. They have a team of health experts and doctors that guides every user to optimise his/her health goals. This optimization with each and every user helps maintain a healthy ecosystem in which people derive results.
GOQii Personal Coach
We all know or have heard somewhere that, everybody is different, you cannot examine each and everybody with the same instrument. That is when personalised care is needed and that is when the worth of personal coaches and trainers come into the picture.
They operated under the umbrella of a beta program until 2014 and then they closed it. After the closing of their beta program, GOQii became commercially available in India in August of 2014. It is to be noted that the beta program was closed in April of the same year.
The company has offices in Mumbai, Shenzhen, China and it hopes to have offices in the Middle East, the United States and Singapore. This venture has been highly trusted by investors of all sorts. Investors include Mitsui, NEA, Megadelta, DSG Consumer Partners, Galaxy Digital, Denlow Investment Trust, Edelweiss, Cheetah Mobile, GWC, Mr Ratan Tata (The OG investor), Mr Akshay Kumar (Popular Indian Actor) and Mr Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm CEO).
About Vishal Gondal – CEO at GOQii
Vishal Gondal is a serious serial entrepreneur. We mean it seriously when we say, serious serial entrepreneur. Vishal started coding at the age of 16. He was passionate about gaming and soon started to build games of his own. At that age when a person knows how to code, the only favourable thing he/she codes are games. Those were the early days of the Internet and computers per se.
It was later in the year 1998 when something really interesting happened for Vishal. It was the time of Kargil and he out of curiosity made a game named “I love India”, and the main purpose of the game was to shoot intruders in the Indian boundary. The game was an instant hit and got over a lakh download at that time,
In 1998. That was impressive at the time as it is today. Then he got an idea that games that are India made and a little patriotic thematic in nature will go a long way if produced nicely. That was the time when IndiaGames, a venture came into existence. It was the brainchild of Vishal Gondal. Then he worked with venture capitalists and all, took the company from informally a game maker to a big name in the gaming industry. In 2011 Disney bought IndiaGames at a deal of over 100 million dollars.
That is a lot of money. Most people would take that money and go on a vacation of life. That “most people ” are not Vishal Gondal. Vishal chose to not get stagnant or dormant, he chose to flow in the direction of his passion. His passion other than games is easily guessable, It is fitness and health.
Vishal moved to the health and fitness sector to work his ideas out. He was also into fitness as all those previous years had a toll on his health because he was working on computers a lot. He affected millions with his games (in a good and thrilling way) and now he did not choose to stay put, but he chose to provide value to the next billion people.
He enjoys running Marathons, Ultras, Trekking & SkyDiving. His love for the outdoors and pushing oneself physically dates to his growing years when he was a national level volleyball player. Vishal is also a long time TEDster, gadget & gizmo freak and a judge on two television shows ‘The Pitch’ on Bloomberg TV & ‘Your Wish is my App’ on NDTV.
His passion for technology, fitness & gaming led him to his next venture GOQii which is focused on helping people make a change towards a healthier lifestyle and be the force of good.
That is why he chose health as the domain for his next venture. He decided to jump on the health sector and that was how GOQii was born, the ultimate health and fitness ecosystem.
How was the Idea of GOQii Conceived?
The company was founded by a smart person named Vishal Gondal. He is a super tech enthusiast. He is also the former Chief executive officer of Indiagames. He is a big name in the gaming industry. Made some really successful and critically acclaimed games in the 90s and then the most recent hit FAU-G.
After exiting the gaming space, with a great dreamy exit from his own Indiagames when it was bought by Disney, he could have enjoyed life anyhow he wanted but he noticed something. He noticed that after all his star career in the gaming space, his health has taken a toll on him. Albeit, He was a fairly sporty person in his college and school time. His love for the outdoors and pushing oneself physically dates to his growing years when he was a national level volleyball player.
After affecting millions of people with his games in a good and thrilling way, he chose the health sector. When asked why he started working again, he said that he is just a passionate person who is trying to follow his passion of creating value and putting an effect on a billion people.
His goal is to see people healthy and happy. He plans to make not only people in India healthy but also plans to expand GOQii to a place that will make it responsible for health and fitness for many areas in the world.
As it is said that software is the most scalable thing in the whole world. Once the worth is proven by GOQii, its software can go overseas and start creating impact there too as it is doing in India. For its future, GOQii plans to expand its services to the Middle East, the United States, and Singapore.
GOQii is not just another smart wearable brand that promises to track accurate data regarding your health. Vishal Gondal plans to make it much more than it already is. Much more than the world has seen. He wants to evolve the digital fitness industry up to a level that is never seen before. Not to mention, Vishal has high hopes for the wearable industry. He even says that these wearables will soon replace mobile phones in the near future.
So what is the USP of GOQii? It is a legit genuine question that may haunt you. There are many many USPs of this fitness startup but few most noticeable features are listed here –
GOQii has a full-fledged health-friendly ecosystem.
Personalised health statistics with health experts.
The corporate challenge and User testimonials.
All these are the most loved unique prepositions that people love. Let us discuss all of them in a little more detail to understand the market in which they operate.
The GOQii Ecosystem
We, in the last paragraph’s last line, mentioned an ecosystem of health. That ecosystem is known as the GOQii fitness ecosystem. As we previously read that GOQii manufactures watches and bands and other wearables to provide you control of your health.
Not only this, but the fitness company also provides all sorts of help from, weather coaches or experts or doctors and nutrition people. That personal coaching aspect of GOQii is the innovation that acts as a USP or a unique selling proposition.
GOQii Ecosystem
The ecosystem entails the application which is connected to the smart wearable device that you wear. The tracker is connected and reports all data to coaches, doctors, and experts if you have the subscription. Every Health coach is a certified coach under the company GOQii.
This environment that they have managed to create is called the GOQii ecosystem. It is a full-fledged place for all your health needs, that is what the company strives to offer. It strives to combine a smart fitness band, an app, a team that is expert and has cared for your health. That team includes a personal health coach, all sorts of designated experts and a Doctor for helping you out to meet the targets that you set for yourself and for the people you love.
GOQii also plans partnerships with top labs in the domain of diagnostics. It helps you to get recommendations for tests that might help you on the basis of the targets that you need to tough. You can do some of the reports from the comfort of your home and you can then access the reports directly on the app.
The GOQii ecosystem is designed to keep chronic diseases under control through increased adherence to therapy, lifestyle change and continuous data monitoring. Doctors are adopting this ecosystem for managing chronic diseases of their patients and are seeing great results. It has an app locker that they call a health locker. It is a cloud storage tool. That helps people to save their health records.
That cloud has unlimited space so that you don’t have to worry about losing your health records. That locker is accessible and can be accessed even remotely via a login and pass. GOQii has tied up with diagnostics labs like Thyrocare, which allow users to book tests directly via the GOQii app. Test results are directly sent to the Health Locker to be reviewed by the GOQii Coach and GOQii Doctor.
There is one more thing that you get with the GOQii ecosystem. It has a bonus feature called “Karma”. It is quite similar to the real phenomenon of karma. If you do something good, you will receive something good.
GOQii Karma
With the ‘Karma’ feature GOQii plans to use the same philosophy for a good social cause. So what happens is, if you walk with this feature, you get points, the more you collect points, the more you can donate to social causes that the company supports. It matches the philosophy of the whole wearable brand of “Be the force”.
Personalised care with health experts
GOQii runs on two models, that too simultaneously. It has the main product domain, which is the smart wearable technology that it advertises with Akshay Kumar. The other domain is the personalised health coaches support. This is the back end sort of thing and you can only experience it with a subscription that you can buy with the product itself.
Both these packages combined help in building a rapport with your own health. The best thing about the combination of health and technology is that it is capable of providing personalised results and guides and suggestions to the person using it.
As we all know, people love personalised tech. Like we love Netflix recommendations, and the social media algorithms to work on personalised tech. This is very recently made possible with the help of new and efficient technology for maintaining data, big data. It is a field that deals with extracting data and making sense of large amounts of data. It is true that data is the gold of the 21st century.
GOQii Corporate Challenge
GOQii Corporate Wellness Program
One of the most stuck starts of people who are not living a healthy lifestyle at all is the corporate people. The pressure to rise up at the corporate level makes them sit for long hours and thus deteriorates the health of these hard-working people. We can easily see and witness all around us that corporate people are the most prone to health discomforts.
GOQii has innovated a cool thought in this area of life. The fitness company organises a corporate challenge every now and then. The corporate challenge is a sixty-day fitness event. So, it spans about two months in total. This corporate challenge includes daily virtual and fitness sessions that are corporate-friendly.
Corporate friendly exercises means those sorts of exercises that can be performed in a short space and with low intensity of work done or effort induced. This allows all the employees to walk, get active, increase their fitness levels and make a positive move towards living a healthier lifestyle. Moreover, it is all in the app, a single application that entails everything for your health.
GOQii Health quiz
GOQii Health Quiz
Not only the corporate challenge, but GOQii also has hosted a series of health quizzes in the past. The motive of these quizzes was to improve the general knowledge about health. It is often seen in our society that we tend to believe some myths and misconceptions of the fitness world.
The goal of these health-related challenges and quizzes is to bust the myth around health and common fitness in society. Moreover, GOQii has taken a step further than just casual challenges and quizzes of stagnant general knowledge, it now hosts experts that debunk myths around health.
If you visit their youtube page, you will find a plethora and plenty of videos that are hosted by health experts, personal health coaches, doctors and nutritionists. This sort of clear and unbiased knowledge is freely available, this is a great initiative by Vishal and the team at GOQii. It helps build a rapport with users who are truly willing to do the actions required to meet their health and fitness goals.
GOQii Arena
GOQii Arena
The GOQii social feature lets you discover and make new friends, share your habits, goals, health & fitness stories, as well as motivate each other! It helps you build communities of like-minded individuals who share similar goals with GOQii users within the app in your region.
GOQii Health store
GOQii Health Store
The GOQii Health store is a one-stop online health store that offers a whole suite of curated health products and services. These products are tested for quality by our experts before being launched in the store. You can also redeem your GOQii Cash for discounts on listed products.
User Testimonials (What the users are saying about GOQii)
The GOQii watches went on from a beta version to a full-fledged company in April 2014. It is still somewhere in the middle phases of growth in India. As we all know that India is a very big country and global brands are fighting very hard to establish themselves in our country.
GOQii is one of the native brands that is trying hard to speak up among such massive competition from global brands. One of the best ways to look at the quality that the brand creates is by checking its testimonials. Let us see what people are saying about the GOQii ecosystem.
User Testimonial of GOQii
“Rahul Pandit gets off medication and gets healthier with GOQii” read an article on a website. This is an article that was listed on the blog that the GOQii team manages. The blog has all the success stories of fat to fit and healthy and happy people who have used the product and the support of coaches from GOQii.
This proves that there are actually real stories that are transformed with products and services that GOQii strives to provide. The blog not only contains success stories but the blog tries to become a companion in someone’s fitness journey. It entails all the healthy tips, tricks, recipes that will help people get from a bad shape to probably the best shape of their lives.
A comment on GOQii’s YouTube channel
This is a user testimonial that typed words on Youtube. He is thankful for how he found GOQii and how it has become a part of his life. This is one example but there are plenty more. GOQii has many people supporting it and making it an established brand.
Akshay Kumar, the actor and probable epitome of fitness in India is the brand ambassador of this company. As it gets more and more views and subscriptions, one thing is sure, that if GOQii is able to stand the market in India, then probably it can win most of the world.
Conclusion
Being healthy involves a lot of factors other than just exercise. You need to watch what you eat, get quality sleep and manage stress effectively as well. With a lot of foreign brands trying to provide value in this space, there are very few Indian brands that are trying to enter and establish themselves in this market.
GOQii is one of them. It strives to provide a full ecosystem for health and fitness. It has personalised coaches, health experts and all sorts of advantages that the wearable tech industry has to offer.
GOQii was started with the same goal in mind. That goal was to make a billion people happy and healthy. The focus is primarily on India. GOQii, a collaboration of some of the world’s leading experts and an amazing management team who are driven by a passion for healthy sustainable living, and who believe that all of us contain boundless potential.
GOQii’s goal is to enable millions of people across the world to “be the force” by helping them unleash their untapped potential. The passion with which Vishal and team manage and build products for India, Is the fuel for such ventures. All these steps will lead to a healthy and happy India.
FAQ
Who is the founder of GOQii?
Vishal Gondal is the founder and CEO of GOQii.
What is the revenue of GOQii?
The revenue of GOQii was ₹220 million as of 2019.
Is GOQii an Indian company?
Yes, GOQii is an Indian company founded by Vishal Gondal, the company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
Devashish Shrivastava
