CSR Comes To The Aid Of Quality Medical Education
Chennai-based TAKE Solutions has made a CSR contribution to the Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE), the Technology Business Incubator of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad for seed investment in an early stage healthcare based impact company. The joint selection committee of CIIE and TAKE solutions chose Gurgaon-based start-up Bodhi Health Education, with a mission to empower frontline health workers through quality skill training.
Commenting on the deal, Srinivasan H R, Vice-Chairman and MD, TAKE Solutions said, ‘We have undertaken this seed investment with the primary aim of helping India’s budding entrepreneurs set up innovative, disruptive and scalable ventures. As a niche technology player in the Life Sciences domain we found it apt to fund Bodhi Health Education; we will also further its growth with our unique position in the Life Sciences/Healthcare market’.
Voicing the same, J Salim Vali, Vice President (Impact Investments), CIIE said, ‘We are delighted to have closed this investment round in Bodhi with TAKE Solutions Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, Village Capital, Beyond Capital and Mr Samir Shah (a Mumbai based Angel Investor). This validates CIIE and Bodhi Health Education’s belief in its outstanding, highly effective Social Impact and the clearly defined entrepreneurial opportunity.’ Founded in 2013, Bodhi Health Education is Software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides quality training and education to frontline health workers. CIIE partnered with Village Capital for the Last Mile Accelerator program, 2014, in which Bodhi Health Education was a winning team.A part from Village Capital, other investors in the round include Beyond Capital. The seed investment around closed at around Rs 75 lakh. Here, Vali further added, ‘CSR funds in seed investments have a great potential as this will encourage communication between industry and technology business incubators and can bring about many successful start-ups. Entrepreneurship will play a Key role in achieving accessibility affordability and transparency in healthcare.’ CIIE’s partnership with TAKE Solutions takes the CSR route, mandated by Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013.
Voicing the same, J Salim Vali, Vice President (Impact Investments), CIIE said, ‘We are delighted to have closed this investment round in Bodhi with TAKE Solutions Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, Village Capital, Beyond Capital and Mr Samir Shah (a Mumbai based Angel Investor). This validates CIIE and Bodhi Health Education’s belief in its outstanding, highly effective Social Impact and the clearly defined entrepreneurial opportunity.’ Founded in 2013, Bodhi Health Education is Software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides quality training and education to frontline health workers. CIIE partnered with Village Capital for the Last Mile Accelerator program, 2014, in which Bodhi Health Education was a winning team.A part from Village Capital, other investors in the round include Beyond Capital. The seed investment around closed at around Rs 75 lakh. Here, Vali further added, ‘CSR funds in seed investments have a great potential as this will encourage communication between industry and technology business incubators and can bring about many successful start-ups. Entrepreneurship will play a Key role in achieving accessibility affordability and transparency in healthcare.’ CIIE’s partnership with TAKE Solutions takes the CSR route, mandated by Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013.
This will enable Bodhi leverage low cost mobile technology at health facilities to provide scalable, high quality eLearning solutions for the primary health workers. ‘We are excited with this support from TAKE Solutions given their deep expertise in the Life Sciences industry. Inputs from TAKE Solutions would be highly valuable in developing relevant training products and engaging with clients where Bodhi Health Education can maximize the impact to the communities,’ said Shrutika Girdhar, Chief Technology Officer, Bodhi Health Education.
Bodhi’s seed funding round has been an instance of diverse investor cohorts converging towards promoting early-stage entrepreneurship. Apart from funding the start-up, the investors and TAKE Solutions also bring in significant strategic benefits that Bodhi can leverage in the future. These include intensive mentoring and advisory support, fund-raise support, networking and linkages, and media coverage.
