5C Network raises funding from Unitus Ventures, others

Unitus Ventures, Axilor, and Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), the technology business incubator of IIM Ahmedabad, have invested an undisclosed amount of seed funding in 5C Network, a health-tech startup.

5C Network operates a radiology-focused online portal that connects the five stakeholders of radio diagnosis: doctor, radiologist, patient, technologist, and hospital. The platform brings together specialist radiologists from all over the country and gets them equipped with machine intelligence to make sure that every report can be read by the best available radiologist in the fastest possible time. It allows hospitals and diagnostic centres to upload scans directly to the cloud where automated data extraction and analysis is done by 5C Network’s proprietary algorithm. Curated information with pre-filled reports is generated which is then accessed by a wide array of specialists available.

More than 50% of the deaths in non-metro cities are ascribed to delayed diagnosis or diagnosis that did not happen due to non-availability of facilities, the companies said in a statement on Monday.

5C Network handles over 950 cases per day. Over the next couple of years, the startup plans to reach more than 1000 hospitals, 200+ radiologists and integrate the complete ecosystem in a mobile environment.

“Irrespective of its location, 5C gives every hospital or diagnostic centre access to a world-class radiology team. We have been seeing strong growth in demand for our services” Syed Ahmed, co-founder and director at 5C Network said in a statement.

For Unitus Ventures, the investment comes as a strategic addition to their health-tech portfolio. Unitus Ventures is an impact venture fund which focuses on startups innovating for the masses across healthcare, education and fintech sectors.

"India's radiologist to population ratio is extremely low, i.e. 1/100,000 which leads to long lead time in analyzing and reporting on X-rays and scans. 5C is a disruptive 24/7 radiology service platform that delivers quality reports within an hour. This will dramatically improve access to quality care for millions of patients around the country while creating a strong business proposition,” said Milind Shah, venture partner at Unitus Ventures.

CIIE, on the other hand, has been providing catalytic capital and deep support to startups in the healthcare domain for over ten years now.  “We look to invest in startups addressing huge markets with best-in-class deep technology. We are excited to support 5C as they continue to scale and grow in the healthcare market,” said Vipul Patel, VP Investments at CIIE.