Facebook angel investors fund Indian doctor consulting app

BENGALURU: Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, who were angel investors in Facebook, have funded online doctor consultation platform DocsApp. Japanese venture capital firm Rebright Partners has also participated in the early stage investmentround of $1.2 million. DocsApp plans to utilize the funding to expand their operations, enhance user experience and hire more people.

Founded in 2015 by IIT Madras alumni Satish Kannan and Enbasekar Dinadayalane, DocsApp, which has 36 employees, provides consultation for patients within 30 minutes with complete privacy. Patients can chat as well as share pictures and reports of the ailment with the doctors privately.

Kannan said, “It is estimated that up to 70% of the commonest health issues people face can be managed online. The patient doesn’t need to travel to have a medical consultation. We want to bridge the gap between patients and doctors through this platform so that people can get expert consultation on demand.” He added that this would also help the platform take specialized care to the remote areas across the country.

DocsApp has over 80,000 users, with more than 15,000 patients taking consultation on the app every month. DocsApp also has a pool of 500 doctors in the country who are available to connect with patients for consultations.

“We make sure that the empanelment of doctors is carried out through a strict three-step verification process vetted by an in-house specialist doctor, thereby providing a reliable service to our customers,” said Dinadayalane. The investors said that they expect the app to revolutionize primary healthcare and added that it could be taken to other emerging markets too.

 Rajaraman and Harinarayan had invested in Facebook as part of the Accel Partners-led funding round in 2005. They had founded e-commerce company Junglee, which was acquired by Amazon in 1998, and later founded Kosmix, which was acquired by Walmart.