Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has invested in San Francisco-based medical emergency response start-up company MUrgency Inc that is developing the One Global Emergency Response Network.
The start-up was founded by Indian social entrepreneur Shaffi Mather in Silicon Valley in 2014 and incubated out of Stanford ChangeLabs. The financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
The MUrgency app works like the “uber of healthcare” and makes emergency response available with a tap on your mobile phone in less than nine minutes in urban areas. The nearest doctor or para-medical staff on the network is directed to attend to an emergency call in the vicinity.
“It was the most professional funding experiences of my life,” Mather told Business Line. And one of the suggestions from Tata was that the service be expanded across the country before it is taken overseas, he added.
MUrgency Inc will use the funds to augment technology and scale up operation besides leveraging Tata’s experience and network as a global business leader to develop the emergency response network globally through appropriate partnerships, a note from MUrgency said.
The service was piloted in Israel, Dubai and Punjab. And earlier in February, MUrgency launched its service in the TriCity area in Punjab with a network of 36 hospital emergency rooms, 40-plus ambulances and 350 plus medical professionals.
By end June, the service will be extended across Punjab, Mather said, with about 3000 medical professionals involved in the network. The company plans to make its services available across India by 2018 and around the world by 2020.
Health investments
Ratan Tata has invested in over 25 startups in about two years, the note said, referring to Lybrate, an online doctor consulting start-up, Swasth India, a startup which focusses on cancer treatment and health data analytics and Invictus Oncology, a cancer therapeutic startup, a note from MUrgency said.
In fact, MUrgency recently received investment from Kris Gopalakrishnan and SD Shibulal led Axilor Ventures, as well.
"Tata’s involvement is an affirmation of the importance of a reliable emergency medical response network for the world and of course India to save lives which are otherwise lost for want of timely medical attention,” Mather said
Apart from MUrgency, Tata’s investment in overseas companies include among others, Boston-based wind energy startup Altaeros Energies, China’s largest smartphone maker Xiaomi and Singapore-based startup Crayon Data, a big data analytics firm, the note added.
Mather and fellow-director Sweta Mangal along with three of their friends founded ZHL with one ambulance in 2004 and led the company to become the largest emergency ambulance service company in the developing world with operations in 17 states in India and the Gulf (Middle East), the note said.
jyothi.datta@thehindu.co.in