Kstart, a seed program from VC firm Kalaari Capital, has invested in two Indian startups — Advenio Technosys, a clinical imaging solution provider and GuaRented, a rental marketplace.
Kalaari Capital launched Kstart program in February to accelerate the disruptive ideas. The firm has invested $100,000 in in Advenio Technosys, while GuaRented has received $500,000.
Commenting about this, Vani Kola, MD of Kalaari Capital, said,
We are excited to support disruptive solutions like Advenio and GuaRented at Kstart. I am glad that we have been able to attract such a diverse set of companies in such a short span of time.
Advenio, which provides artificial intelligence-based computer assisted detection for diagnostic clinical imaging, is now planning to use the newly raised funds to enhance the product and for clinical validation. The startup has also received grants from some respected industry bodies such as BIRAC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and IIM Ahmedabad.
The vision of the startup is to bring equitable healthcare to the masses. The smartphone-based software solution can be scaled across various healthcare specialties, and drastically reduces the cost of diagnostics.
Mausumi Acharyya, CEO of Advenio Technosys said,
We are into development of artificial intelligence-based software for diagnosing medical images. We try to find out abnormalities in clinical images. There is a shortage of qualified clinicians, both in India and abroad. Our software is a prescreening solution. In the rural areas, you can use this to read reports. We are currently working on retinal images.
Talking about GuaRented, it provides appliances such as refrigerators, televisions, microwave ovens and washing machines on rent. It plans to use the funds to scale up supply and build the technology platform. It works on a crowd-sourcing model, which allows the startup to invite individuals to bear ownership of the appliances while GuaRented manages the operations and rentals.
Harshwardhan Raikwar, CEO of Bengaluru-based GuaRented said,
It is a pay-as-you-go service for consumer durables. We are tackling supply through a unique model called applied crowdfunding. We ask individuals to fund these assets for a share in the revenue. Whatever returns we get, we will share the revenue accordingly.
Earlier this year, Kstart had invested in three startups — Active.ai, Affordplan and Indee. Active.ai is a tech platform for banks, wealth managers and financial services companies to interact with customers. Affordplan allows doctors and patients to co-design payment plans for non-emergency healthcare services. Indee is a web video streaming platform.
