5G ambulances act as ICUs on bed, says medical provider Medulance who secured ₹2 crore funding on Shark Tank India

• Medulance is a Delhi-based medical service provider with over 7500 ambulance fleets leveraging 5G technology.
  
• The startup’s 5G ambulances function like a hospital on wheels allowing video consultations with doctors, paramedics and healthcare workers besides real-time streaming of patient health data during critical hours.
  
• Medulance claims to dispatch an ambulance within 3-4 minutes, with a guarantee of reaching the emergency room within 15 minutes.
  
• Founded in 2017, the bootstrapped company received its first funding on Shark Tank India.

“Our nation is weird, pizza comes with a 30-minute delivery guarantee, but not an ambulance?”

A character says this in the popular Hindi movie 3 Idiots, voicing the frustration of all Indians with accessing ambulances. Delhi-based startup Medulance has stepped in to solve this problem – aiming to provide rapid ambulance services, faster than the time taken to get groceries from instant delivery services like Blinkit or Zepto.

Leveraging Jio’s 5G network, Medulance claims to provide an ambulance in 20 minutes, on average. They do this by managing traffic while simultaneously ensuring that if you call their helpline, there is 100% call attendance. Medulance also uses its technology platform to directly connect users with ambulance drivers. It provides three services - MeduERS (Stationed Ambulance Service), MeduClinic (Medical Room Service) and MeduAlert (Corporate employee coverage, including 4 family members).

The startup’s 5G ambulances function like a hospital on wheels allowing video consultations with doctors, paramedics and healthcare workers besides real-time streaming of patient health data – thus providing medical assistance during the critical ‘golden hour’. Medulance says that in 2018, 50% of the 1.51 lakh fatalities caused due to road accidents could have been saved if timely assistance was made available to them.

Wins the biggest deal on Shark Tank India

Medulance’s innovative solution impressed the judges on Shark Tank India Season 2. It secured a deal of ₹2 crore for 2% equity from three judges – Emcure Pharmaceuticals’ executive director Namita Thapar, CEO of Lenskart Peyush Bansal and co-founder of boAt, Aman Gupta.

The startup has registered a growth of 300% in 2019-2021. It further grew 2x the next year, Pranav Bajaj, co-founder of Medulance, said in a conversation with Business Insider India. Founded in 2017, Medulance is currently in over 60 cities and also has a fleet size of 7,500 and over 8 million subscribers.

However, providing a medical provider network is expensive as building one Medulance ambulance with equipment costs ₹22 lakh, informed Bajaj. Bajaj was also on Forbes Asia’s 30 under 30 list in 2021.

The company plans to use the funds to penetrate the market faster and improve ambulance management technology. It’s also looking to raise $1-$1.5 million within 8-9 months and also start a paramedic training institute, he added.

Medulance’s vision is to reach ₹100 crore revenue within the next two years. The company achieved sales worth ₹24 crore in FY22 and projected sales worth ₹40 crore for FY23.

Of a grandfather’s death & the founding of a startup

The two founders Bajaj and Ravjot Arora met through a common friend back in 2016, where Arora talked about losing his grandfather due to the unavailability of an ambulance. Bajaj earlier worked with Zomato till 2015.

“Most of my entrepreneurial zeal comes from early days of seeing Zomato functioning. Sometimes it's good that people who aren’t directly related and have complementary skills come together to solve a common problem,” he said.

The startup’s business model operates in three ways – providing ambulances to residential areas, an app-based subscription model and tying up with over 500 hospitals. Through their helpline, they have been servicing remote areas as well.

Reaching every nook of India

But how does Medulance provide assistance to people in Tier II and Tier III cities of India, where internet connectivity is still picking up pace?

“Our ambulances are GPS-enabled. Our call centre executives have access to smart dashboards which feed in patient data as soon as a call is made. Places with no internet connection can pass on the patient information via SMS as well,” he said.

The biggest problem was the lack of skilled medical staff in smaller cities and far-flung areas which have little or no access to multispeciality hospitals, he said.

“Ensuring there are quality ambulances, nurses, paramedics in smaller cities is the bigger problem, not the availability of the internet,” Bajaj says. “5G ambulances can create even a bigger impact in smaller towns. When we were doing our research, the closest multi-speciality hospital in remote areas of India was 60-90 kilometres away. 5G ambulances can act as ICU beds in transit,” he said.

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