NEW DELHI: HITLAB, in association with StartHealth, an initiative of Unitus Seed Fund and part of India's leading impact venture fund investing in early-stage startups innovating for the masses, announced the 2018 HITLAB World Cup: India. Innovators worldwide are invited to submit their original technology-enabled healthcare solutions and finalists, selected by a panel of healthcare experts, will have the opportunity to make pitches for up to USD $500,000 (INR 3.5 crore) in grants and equity funding. The pitch event will take place during the HITLAB Innovators Summit: India, held on February 10, 2018 at the India Institute of Technology in Delhi.

The HITLAB Innovators Summit offers a series of curated talks, panels, and collaboration opportunities to engage the most creative minds in health and technology. The theme for this year's Summit—the fourth to be held in India—is Enabling Inclusive Digital Health Innovation and Diffusion. "HITLAB World Cup: India empowers innovators to translate ingenious ideas into practicable solutions that have immense potential to improve healthcare design, delivery, and access in Indiaand across the globe. We're very excited to have Unitus Seed Fund partner with us to expand the impact of groundbreaking innovations," said Devmalya Sarkar, Summit Director, HITLAB.

"India ranks sixth among the 50 low-middle income nations in regards to out-of-pocket healthcare spend. Startups are addressing this by building novel solutions to make healthcare more accessible and affordable to millions of Indians for whom it is otherwise out of reach. At Unitus Seed Fund, healthcare continues to be an exciting sector, and we plan to invest in innovative and scalable health-tech businesses over the next three years. We've set aside INR 100 crore for this, and are very excited to partner with HITLAB to find and nurture new-age startups in India's healthcare sector," said Milind Shah, Venture Partner, Unitus Seed Fund.

The deadline for innovators to submit their concepts is January 14, 2018