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This is for the first time that something new is happening in the healthcare sector; the startup for cancer, Oncare, has raised $1 million of seed funding to usher in affordable and inclusive cancer care to India. Founded in 2023 by Deepak Kumar and Amar Sneh, Oncare has set out in an endeavor to revolutionize the landscape of treatment for cancer by tying up with mid-sized hospitals to establish dedicated oncology wings. It has come up with a strategic partnership model through which Oncare can reduce the treatment cost by up to 40% offering much-needed relief to the expensive tag that corporate hospitals have created.
It is a big deal for Oncare with Huddle Ventures as the lead investor in this seed funding round which involves other venture capital firms like TRTL Ventures, Cloud Capital, and DeVC. The $1 million investment will go to Oncare’s expansion plan, mainly toward opening 10 new centers across important cities such as Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, and Jaipur over the next two years. Oncare takes advantage of unutilized space in hospitals to care for the full range of cancer patients while conquering the main barrier of the cost issue surrounding the treatment of cancer.
It is really exciting and truly validating for Oncare to secure its seed funding. It has opened up Oncare’s access to a much bigger India. Scale the operations without compromising on the best in class clinical and admin teams to keep the care as high in value as possible in this scale-up,” Deepak Kumar, co-founder at Oncare stated. The seed funding will also mount more significant marketing to raise awareness about the Oncare mission in doing something one of a kind in democratizing cancer treatment for the vastly underserved patients and thus filling the gaps in access to specialized care.
India is witnessing a mounting cancer burden with the disease projections to go up from a record 1.39 million in 2020 to 1.57 million by 2025, according to the Health of Nation report from Apollo Hospitals. It is paradoxical in a sense because the numbers are growing while the cost associated with the illness, poor oncology facilities, and fewer skilled professionals pose considerable hurdles in accessibility to the patients afflicted by this disease. Under the cloak of esotericism, Oncare is emerging as a hope provider that offers an innovative and sustainable solution to make high-quality cancer treatment more affordable and accessible.
Sanil Sachar, Co-founder of Huddle Ventures, said quality healthcare was a fundamental right and complimented Oncare on its vision to make oncology care affordable and accessible to all Indians. According to him, this association is aimed at making top-class cancer care service commonplace, truly aligning with the vision of making a tangible difference in patients’ lives.
The fact that Oncare has reached out to over 2,500 patients in South Delhi and conducted more than 500 treatment sessions speaks volumes about the success of its approach. The recent addition of Ghaziabad and West Delhi to its portfolio is a testament to Oncare’s commitment to spreading high-quality, specialized cancer care to millions of needy patients across the country. The ultimate goal would be to create a network of centers providing compassionate, cost-effective, and high-quality cancer care that will change the face of cancer treatment in India.
In conclusion, Oncare has indeed taken the good step of scaling itself with seed funding worth $1 million, it is just a stride away from living its dream-perhaps of revolutionizing cancer care in India. Genuflecting always to providing affordability, accessibility, and quality, Oncare will help redefine the standards of how cancer is treated, have a lasting impact on the healthcare ecosystem, and more importantly, on the lives of countless individuals battling cancer.
