NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, February 13, 2017

The World Health Organization requires a pathologist to spend 20 minutes examining a blood smear on a slide under a microscope before ruling out malaria if no parasites are seen. You can imagine how fatigue, an urge to get home, or some other distraction can disrupt that requirement – and the consequences of the disruption. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone concerned if the spotting of parasites could be automated? That’s the sort of thing healthcare AI startup SigTuple does.

Today SigTuple, which uses computer vision and artificial intelligence for diagnosis, announced series A funding of US$5.8 million. This is the largest investment in a healthcare AI startup out of India. It will help SigTuple scale up and go global.

Accel Partners led the round. Other investors include IDG Ventures India, Pi Ventures, Axilor Ventures, and Endiya Partners. Solid backing for the Bangalore-based startup from marquee investors signals the arrival of Indian AI on the world stage. Ex-Googler Amit Singhal, who is now senior VP with Uber, and VH Capital advised by WhatsApp’s Neeraj Arora also invested. Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who joined Accel in SigTuple’s initial funding of US$740,000, participated in this round too.