Inayo, On-Demand Healthcare Marketplace- Startup Story

Inayo is an on-demand healthcare marketplace that is making it easy for people to get medicines and other healthcare products at their doorstep with the help of a tap. Inayo has been founded by Raunak Jain, CEO (ex Flipkart), Abhishek Sinha, COO (ex Housing), and Purna Chandra, CTO. Inayo is one of its kind startup catering to the medical sector of India and promising a 90 minute home delivery of medicines in the areas they serve.

Inayo has recently raised a seed round of funding amounting to $300,000 from Amit Ranjan (Founder, SlideShare); Kemark Ventures; Zishaan Hayath, and others. It soon plans to expand its presence into 22 other cities across India.

We had a conversation with the founding team of Inayo and here’s what they had to say:

Q) Tell us about Inayo and your personal motivation to start this.

Inayo was started to simplify Medication and Healthcare using top-class technology. Healthcare as the sector has been virgin to technology and the founding team being from a technology background had always been highly motivated to revolutionize this billion-dollar industry by providing better access and awareness to the Indian consumers. My personal motivation is to create a company that will directly have a strong impact on people’s lives.

Q) What sets Inayo apart from the competition?

Inayo’s roots have always been a strong focus on products and technology. Apart from cutthroat technology, our strong business acumen helps us approach a problem in a different way. Strong integration of supply and demand helps us create value for everyone in the ecosystem. Also, we deliver medicines in 90 mins. rather than days.

Q) Put some light on the technology used to build Inayo?

Currently, we have a non-transactional website that drives users to use our mobile app. This has been deliberately done since our experience is the best on the mobile app. We have a robust backend that is built on python Django. We have an android app that is live. An iOS will be out soon.

Q) What was technically the most challenging part of developing Inayo?

Our ordering is very different from other e-commerce portals with a simple. Browse. Add to Cart. Checkout process. Our medicine ordering requires users to upload a photo of the Doctor’s prescription and tag the medicines required. Our major challenge is to educate the customer on how to use our app to ensure a seamless ordering experience. High-quality images(size>2MB) need to be optimized to ensure the least upload time. On the supplier end, we are using technology to have clear visibility on their inventory status.

Q) How are you marketing Inayo to make it a first preference in the market?

We are using Digital Marketing platforms and some BTL forms to market the app. We also are creating relationships with doctors and other stakeholders to promote app-based ordering of medicines.

Q) How are you planning to position Inayo against the prospective competition, and how will you sustain your USP?

We are focusing on unit metrics to make most of our business decisions. Our focus will always be to create products that are easy to use. Also, we would be investing in developing our supply chain which will help us bring down medication costs significantly.

Q) Approximately, how many orders do you book in a single day?

We deliver 40-50 orders per day.

Q) Inayo raised $300000 in the recent round of funding. What would be your future plans for expanding Inayo?

Inayo has already expanded to Mumbai and Delhi. We will focus on these markets for the next months and launch other services such as diagnostic tests at home and Homecare.

Q) Where do you see Inayo 5 years down the line?

Inayo would be India’s #1 Health and Wellness app which will enable millions of users to order medicines, take tests, and book home care services, video appointments with doctors, all from the convenience of home.

Q) What is the biggest hurdle that you faced or are still facing?

The biggest hurdles are the market dynamics and sentiments. Pharmacy retail, unlike other sectors, is quite matured and hence there is a strong association to support the interests of offline pharmacies. We face huge opposition from such organizations who fear going out of business or become redundant once users get accustomed to online ordering.

Q) Any word of advice for all the startups out there who are trying to make it big like Inayo.

Focus on product innovation and data. Business fundamentals should be strong and there should be clear visibility of profitability in the future. Burning cash to achieve short term scale is not sustainable.

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