As part of the startup Interview series, we are going to interview Mr. Anwar Rafique, CEO & Co-founder from Ssivix Lab, a Singapore-based HealthTech startup successfully running a connected health ecosystem called “MyCLNQ” which is a one-stop solution for all family healthcare needs.
Anwar, thanks for taking the time to catch up with us. Can you briefly outline the company’s story, what is SSIVIX LAB’s key goal? Who are the founders and how it all became what it is today?
Ssivix Lab is a Singapore-based Social Enterprise HealthTech company, focused on connected health also known as technology-enabled care (TEC) which involves the convergence of health technology, digital media, and mobile devices. It enables patients, carers, and healthcare professionals (HCP’s) to access data and Information more easily and improve the quality and outcomes of healthcare and social care. We combine Artificial Intelligence, IoT & Big Data technology to develop a Digital Health Ecosystem for the community to use. The Initiative is a journey towards affordable preventive care from curative.
Vision – Enabling Digital Health Ecosystem for the betterment of community.
Mission – Smart Choices in Digital Health beyond Hospital & Clinics
I personally believe to give back to society. Therefore, I am quite actively engaged with community volunteer work in the neighborhood, it is realized that the community needs better service of Healthcare, especially considering geriatric/ageing population, as they need help the most. That’s why me and my co-founder Mr G. Jha decided to start Ssivix Lab for the betterment of the community.
What kind of products and services does your company offer?
We offered a unique AI-based Digital Healthcare ecosystem with digital choices for end patients to take care of primary healthcare (PHC) needs. A few of the digital healthcare choices delivered are;
- Doctor digital appointment (Time Saving)
- Telemedicine (Affordable, Convenience and Time saving)
- Medical Transport booking (Affordable, Convenience and Time saving)
- Medical caregiver/Nurse/Medical Befriending requests (Friendly environment, Convenience and Time saving)
- Medical e-Commerce (Discounted rates, Convenience and Time saving)
- Patient Education (Awareness & Education)
- Patient Vital sign monitoring – Manual Input & Analysis (Preventive analysis)
- Enable Digital Health screening capability from home or office.
The digital healthcare ecosystem helps to store multiple family profiles with a secure payment gateway within one mobile application which makes it unique.
What’s the latest progress in the project, and what are you focusing on right now?
Our continuous focus on a patient-centric model to enable efficient and affordable digital healthcare. Therefore, our development team is continuously working on improving the product as per our strategic product roadmap for the next 2-3 years. Some of the features are:
- enabling an end-to-end solution for provider/doctor,
- enriching Home health & Remote vital sign monitoring module,
- democratization of Health records and etc.
What pain of your customers are you helping solve? What is your company’s offering and what kind of customers and partners are you looking for?
Traditionally the Healthcare service industry is provider-centric. Our main objective to make a paradigm shift from provider to patient-centric which includes a couple of issues to resolve such as high healthcare cost, lack of personalized and on-demand services, in-efficient age-friendly environment.
What differentiates SSIVIX LAB from its competitors?
Our vision & mission is the key that stands us different from others. We do not have any direct competitors who are enabling comprehensive healthcare services at one stop or providing full family healthcare needs.
We believe every family has a different age of people and everyone has different needs of healthcare service. So, how can we get it all into one platform or ecosystem, right from getting doctor online, medicine delivery, caregiver/nurse, ambulance/medical transport, remote vital sign monitoring, or buying medical products.
Do you use AI technology in your product? How does it work for you?
Yes, our Digital Health ecosystem is using an AI technology in multiple modules such as finding the best nurse match based on a request, getting the earliest availability of the nearest doctor.
Do you have any projects related to COVID-19 research? If so, can you explain how your product is contributing to a global fight against coronavirus?
- Ssivix Lab’s MyCLNQ suite has enabled Digital appointment booking to minimize the waiting time to consult a doctor and avoid unnecessary exposure in clinic.
- MyCLNQ provides patients with telemedicine (video consult) and House calls to reduce exposure in clinic. Patients are able to consult their preferred doctor remotely.
- MyCLNQ Non-emergency medical transport booking makes it hassle free and attractive standard pricing for users
- Patients are able to upload their RT-PCR/ART and other test reports into their profile in the app which makes it easier during pre-departure and arrival to flash the reports to authorities.
What is your business model and how are you planning to get early customers onboard? Have you already raised money for your operations and building the platform?
Ssivix Lab focuses on a B2B2C model and which has also helped to attract early customers onboard. The platform is already operational and delivering benefits to end patients.
What milestones have you had in fundraising and where are you now?
Ssivix Lab had managed initial funding via bootstrap model and is now is in discussions for Seed funding and would target for series-A funds later this year.
What was it like growing your team? What are the challenges and surprises you encountered? What tips do you have for building a solid team?
Our recruitment team is in continuous search for good talents with a passion for startups. Most of it becomes challenging to match both talent available and relevant industry experience.
What are your company’s plans for the future, your major dream in 2021?
Ssivix Lab aims to achieve half a million patients served via the platform MyCLNQ in Southeast Asia.
Healthcare made affordable and accessible to rural population.
What do you think about the business climate in Singapore and in Asia in general?
There is a lot of demand and business in the Digital healthcare space for Singapore and Asia. The current pandemic has made digital healthcare a must to operate in new normal.
To summarize our interview, I would like to ask your opinion about the future of the HealthTech industry, especially considering the impact of pandemics and all this economic turbulence.
The Life Sciences industry is facing transformational changes. New patient experience and personalization will enable devices to be modular and more adaptable. Healthcare is switching to more preventive medicine and an outcome-based economic model. When patients have access regularly to their own health information (as opposed to only getting them from their doctor), the hope is that patients will be empowered to take care of themselves as they’ll understand wellbeing, and be more engaged in self-care decisions.
