Healthcare worker training startup comes to Pune with centre in KK Market, plans another in Pimpri-Chinchwad

The startup uses a plug-and-play technology — every user, from students to agents, have an app. The students, who attend the year-long or two-year courses are provided with short pre-recorded videos with lessons on which they are quizzed in real time. Using AI/VR technology, students are given practical lessons in skills such as drawing blood. The modules cater to the three categories of paramedics—diagnostics, comprising workers such as lab technicians; curative, which include operating theatre technicians; and rehabilitative, into which segment come physiotherapy assistants. The Virohan team partners with education institutes, such as colleges and coaching centres, and uses their existing infrastructure and capabilities to train students, which generates additional income for them.

“There is encouraging career progression in this field. A person, who starts with a salary of around Rs 15,000 can, in five years, earn between around Rs 25,000 and, in a decade, around Rs 50,000. If the person can make it to a high portion at an A-grade hospital, they can earn more than Rs 1 lakh,” says Dudeja. While sectors such as hospitality and aviation are struggling in the post-COVID-19 world, healthcare is one of the few industries that is booming. “Healthcare is the third largest employment generator in India at present. In 2015, it was the fifth largest and, by 2025, it is predicted to be the second largest sector,” he adds.

Education and healthcare startups are seeing increasing interest from funding agencies, and Virohan benefits from being positioned at the intersection of both. Last year, when it began its Series A funding, the startup raised $2.8 million from prominent investors. “We have got funds even from Yunus Social Business, run by Prof Mohd Yunus, the Nobel Laureate from Bangladesh, who started the Grameen Bank. In Series B funding, to begin mid-April, we are looking at $ 7-10 million,” says Dudeja.

The company is also looking at opening 100 centres by the end of this year — a plan that was delayed due to the lockdown. “The opening of centres tends to get delayed in case of lockdown because, operationally, you are not able to aggregate. If there are 80,000 colleges, even 5 percent of these would come to 4,000. It is not difficult to reach out to 100 colleges and offer them to incorporate the Virohan plug and play solution. But, operationally, we have a challenge in terms of lockdown as we cannot meet partners and have those talks,” he says, adding, “We lost six to nine months during the lockdown. This year, we want to start aggregating very quickly.”

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