OneBreath raises Rs. 18 Crores from Ventureast and other Investors

^-A ⁺A

OneBreath raises Rs. 18 Crores from Ventureast and other Investors

CoolAvenues Newswire | February 03,2014 10:18 pm IST

email

print

pdf

Comments

Onebreath started by Matthew Callaghan, an associate professor at Stanford along with medical device entrepreneur Bryan Lomaas has developed a low-cost rechargeable battery operated ventilator..

OneBreath has raised Rs. 18 crores from Ventureast Tenet Fund, Angel investors including Rajiv Kuchhal, BVR Mohan Reddy.

Originally the ventilator was developed for the use of influenza patients in the US. Later they realised that this product is most suitable in developing markets which has a high incidence of respiratory illness. The company bought in Viay Simha as CEO in 2012 to market the product in India. Prior to this, Vijay Simba was the chief strategy officer at Indian electronics company BPL and chief executive at Swiss medical technology firm Unisantis.

In India, it is estimated that at the current bed-to-ventilator ratio, there is a shortage of over 1 million ventilators in India. The ventilator priced at Rs. 300,000 is rugged and portable and can be used in rural and semi-rural areas where electricity supply is patchy. The products currently available in market are priced in the range of Rs. 25,00,000 and are very delicate and complex.

The ventilator designed by Callaghan has a microcontroller, a small computer which controls the functioning of the whole system. The device is made compact by replacing mechanical components with software algorithms. OneBreath has tied-up with Vatsaalya, a low-cost hospital chain operating in Tier II and III cities in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Concluded.

.