A student at the Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences carefully inserts an IV line into a vein. Her movements are precise and confident — but there is no real patient beside her. The student is immersed in a virtual reality simulation, honing a life-saving medical skill.
“We use virtual reality and augmented reality to train undergrad medical and nursing students,” says Sabarish Chandrasekaran, CEO of Chennai-based MediSim VR, a company specialising in simulated medical training.
The idea for the company was sparked 10 years ago when Chandrasekaran, an MBA graduate, teamed up with Jeno Manickkam Durairaj, a game engine development engineer, to create a VR-based training platform across industries.
In 2018, Dr Adith Chinnaswami came on board to devise a VR solution for grassroots-level training in the healthcare industry.
“The National Medical Commission has a mandate on skills essential for nursing and allied health science workers. We are trying to ensure all students have a certifiable level of competency through VR training before they practise on patients,” Chinnaswami says.
Business model
Incubated at IIT-Madras in 2018 and at Boston’s Johnson & Johnson Innovation Labs in 2019, MediSim incorporates an SaaS (software-as-a-service) and licensing model. When setting up a training facility at a college, it offers two payment models — an annual fee-based licence for the institution, covering infrastructure, hardware, and software; and an annual subscription fee paid directly by students.
The idea is to ensure that the institution does not have to bear upfront the heavy cost of capital investment, Chandrasekaran says. “We realised that if we don’t create the right path for them to transition to a newer technology, the uptake will be poor,” the CEO explains. “We operate as a plug-and-play model,” he adds, which means the company takes care of all aspects of running the programme — whether hardware, software, or troubleshooting.
MediSim’s patented software and hardware is built in-house in India. Its in-house industry engagement team includes academicians, doctors, and other medical experts.
MediSim has seven labs across India, mainly at medical colleges, including Chennai’s Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research; Karpaga Vinayaga Institute of Medical Sciences And Research Center in Maduranthakam, Tamil Nadu; KD Hospital in Ahmedabad; and St Peter’s Medical College in Bengaluru. Six more labs are coming up in north India, and the company’s platform caters to over 6,000 students, Chandrasekaran says. “We are confident of scaling up rapidly,” he says.
The company also runs a lab for the Healthcare Sector Skill Council, in Delhi, under the National Skill Development Corporation. It targets a presence in 10-15 more institutions this year, with labs in 20-25 institutions. Internationally, it has partnered with institutions in West Asia and the US. It runs a programme with the Netherlands government to train students in India in the ‘Dutch protocol’.
Investor interest
MediSim has completed three rounds of funding to date. In 2019, it raised nearly $250,000 in a pre-seed round from a medtech investor. In 2022, it secured around $500,000 in a seed round, with Inflection Point Ventures, The Chennai Angels, and Kauvery Hospital Group as investors. Australia’s Weiser Capital has acquired a stake in the company.
MediSim plans to end the year with a cash surplus and expects to be profitable.
