Growth Moves 2026 · Healthtech edition · Research by upGrowth
13 Indian healthtech moves that changed how companies grow in 2026
Indian healthtech companies grew in 2026 by owning more of the patient journey, and by taking India-built products to richer markets. We tracked 13 dated, sourced moves from January to September 2026 and found growth coming from four places.
13Growth moves
4Patterns
7Moves by acquisition or merger
By Amol Ghemud, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, upGrowth · Research period: January to September 2026 · Published October 2026
What changed in Indian healthtech growth in 2026?
Indian healthtech companies grew in 2026 by owning more of the patient journey, and by taking India-built products to richer markets. Across 13 moves we tracked between January and September 2026, growth came from four places: products going abroad, insurance and care fused into one product, diagnostics and pharmacy networks bought or built in the physical world, and AI pushed into clinical work.
The acquisition was the tool of the year. 7 of the 13 moves were acquisitions or mergers, and most of them bought something a digital company can’t build fast: MRI centres, a pharmacy distribution network, a claims engine, a clinic in London. The companies that grew stopped treating online as the business and started treating it as the front door to care they actually deliver.
Growth Moves is a research series by upGrowth. It does not rank leaders or companies. Each edition documents specific moves, the people credited with them, and what they reveal about where growth is coming from next.
A Growth Move is a dated, sourced change that alters how a company acquires, monetises, retains or serves customers. We counted four kinds of change.
New capability: technology or systems that change how the core business runs.
New growth model: a new revenue line, distribution route or monetisation layer.
New market or category: a new geography, customer segment or care line.
New way to solve a growth problem: removing friction that was capping conversion or demand.
The three tests every move passed. It was announced between 1 January and 30 September 2026. It is documented in a primary or reputable source, linked under each move. The named leader is quoted or explicitly credited in that source. Funding rounds, hires and awards on their own did not qualify. No company paid for inclusion.
The four patterns behind 13 moves
Pattern 1: India-built health products went abroad
Ultrahuman returned to the US with a ring made in Texas. makeO agreed to buy Singapore’s Zenyum to reach 10 countries, and Temple is acquiring a London longevity clinic. Three moves, one bet: a product hardened on Indian scale and Indian price points can win in markets that pay more per patient.
The growth logic: the cost of building the product was paid in India, while the revenue can come from markets where patients pay more. The risk is regulatory and legal, as Ultrahuman’s patent fight shows.
Pattern 2: Insurance and care became one product
PB Health opened hospitals so Policybazaar’s insurance customers get approvals sorted before admission. ekincare bought Superclaims to sell claims AI to insurers and TPAs. Healthify merged with Berry Street to reach US patients through insurance-covered care.
The growth logic: whoever controls both the money (the policy or claim) and the care (the doctor or dietitian) owns the customer for years, not for one transaction.
Pattern 3: Diagnostics and pharmacy went physical, and were bought more than built
Tata 1mg is opening close to a store a day. Redcliffe bought MRI centres to move beyond pathology. Vijaya Diagnostic bought its way into Assam. CureBay bought a pharmacy distribution business serving 10,000+ pharmacies to enter South India. Orange Health replaced pay-per-test pricing with one annual plan.
The growth logic: online demand is cheap to rent and easy to lose. Owned centres, routes and plans turn a one-off test or order into a repeat relationship.
Pattern 4: AI moved from the waiting room into the clinical core
Eka Care released its own medical speech model and opened it to other platforms through APIs. Cloudphysician built a video foundation model that watches hospital patients and is taking it to the US. Neither is a chatbot bolted onto an app. Both are models built on clinical work and sold as infrastructure.
The growth logic: a model trained on your own clinical data is a moat and a second product. Selling it to other hospitals and platforms turns an internal tool into a revenue line.
The 13 Growth Moves
Growth Move 01 · Going abroad
Mohit Kumar, Ultrahuman: back in the US with a ring made in Texas
What changed: On 24 March 2026, Ultrahuman reopened US pre-orders for Ring PRO after clearance from US Customs and Border Protection. TechCrunch reports this followed an October ruling by the US International Trade Commission in favour of Oura that curtailed imports. The company says Ring PRO offers up to 15 days of battery life, extended to 45+ days with a charging case, and that devices are manufactured in Plano, Texas. TechCrunch reports pricing from $399, with $349 for the first 1,000 customers, and shipping from 15 May. Kumar told TechCrunch the US accounts for about 45% of Ultrahuman’s roughly 700,000 daily active users, and that the restrictions cost up to $50 million in lost sales. The dispute is not over: Oura told TechCrunch the CBP decision was limited in scope, and Kumar said Ultrahuman is fighting the Ring Air case in US federal court.
“Ring PRO is a breakthrough in wearable technology” … “We’re delighted to be back in the U.S., and engineering has prevailed”Mohit Kumar, CEO, Ultrahuman (two extracts from the company’s statement)
Why it is a Growth Move: Ultrahuman redesigned the product and moved manufacturing into the US to win back its most important market after an import block.
upGrowth takeaway: When nearly half your users sit in one country, that market’s legal and trade risk is your growth risk. Map your patent and import exposure before you scale spend there.
Arpi Mehta, makeO: agreed to buy Singapore’s Zenyum
What changed: On 11 February 2026, makeO, the parent of teeth aligner brand toothsi, signed an agreement to acquire Singapore-based oral care brand Zenyum for an undisclosed amount, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The combined entity will operate across 10 countries: India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. Zenyum cofounder Julian Artopé remains chief executive of Zenyum. The deal follows makeO’s purchase of Apple Dental for Rs 10.9 crore in August 2025. makeO runs 60+ dental centres.
“This acquisition is a milestone for the Indian dental tech industry. Our partnership with Zenyum will enable us to accelerate our clinical and product capabilities to serve millions across Asia and help them smile better,”Arpi Mehta, Cofounder and CEO, makeO
Why it is a Growth Move: One deal moved an Indian aligner brand into 9 more countries with an existing customer base, instead of launching market by market.
upGrowth takeaway: Cross-border M&A is the fastest way to buy local trust in a regulated category. Before you go abroad organically, price what a regional player with licences and dentists would cost.
Deepinder Goyal, Temple: a London clinic before the first device
What changed: On 27 August 2026, Temple, Deepinder Goyal’s wearable startup, announced it was acquiring London-based Longevous, an evidence-based longevity medicine practice founded in 2025, for an undisclosed amount. Longevous will continue operating as part of Temple. Its founders Dr Robert Mohr and Dr Avi Roy join Temple as Chief Medical Officer and Head of Science. Temple is still developing its wearable, so the deal adds clinical credibility and a UK clinic before the device launches. Inc42 Datalabs lists a $54 million seed round for Temple on 26 February 2026.
“We are excited to share that Temple is acquiring Longevous, an evidence-based longevity medicine practice based in London,”Deepinder Goyal, Founder, Temple
Why it is a Growth Move: Temple bought a clinical practice and a foothold in the UK before selling its first device, building the medical layer its wearable will need to be trusted.
upGrowth takeaway: In health, credibility is a growth asset. If your product makes clinical claims, put named clinicians and published validation in front of buyers before you spend on reach.
Tushar Vashisht, Healthify: a merger to reach US insurance
What changed: On 24 August 2026, Healthify (formerly HealthifyMe) announced a merger with Berry Street, which offers virtual, insurance-covered nutrition care in the US. Berry Street has a network of 2,000-plus clinicians and has served more than 200,000 patients across all 50 states. Healthify brings more than 45 million users and its AI coach Ria. The merged company runs as Berry Street in the US and as Healthify in India and other markets, with Vashisht and Berry Street founder Noah Kotlove as co-CEOs. Financial details were not disclosed.
“Berry Street gives us the clinical backbone and the coverage infrastructure to deliver that promise to the U.S. market at a scale no one has achieved before.”Tushar Vashisht, Founder and CEO, Healthify (merger announcement)
Why it is a Growth Move: Healthify swapped a slow direct-to-consumer climb in the US for an insurance-covered channel.
upGrowth takeaway: In US healthcare, the payer is the channel. If your US funnel depends on consumers paying cash, test what happens to conversion when an insurer pays.
Sarbvir Singh, PB Health: an insurance marketplace opens hospitals
What changed: In July 2026, Policybazaar’s parent PB Fintech entered hospitals with two PB Health hospitals in Noida and Gurugram. Singh said it plans 5 to 6 hospitals in Delhi-NCR in the first phase, and the company earlier outlined a 1,200-bed hospital network across Delhi-NCR over two years. PB Health works with insurance partners to standardise treatment approvals before admission, so patients can complete discharge formalities in about 30 minutes. PB Health also acquired Fitterfly to strengthen preventive care in diabetes, obesity and heart health. For context, PB Fintech shares fell as much as 23% on 24 September 2026 after IRDAI proposed caps on insurance commissions. Those proposals are still under consultation, not final rules.
“Once someone is admitted to a PB Health hospital, they need not worry about insurance or financing. The system will take care of all the approvals. Our doctors do not have any incentive to admit a patient. The system will be very transparent,”Sarbvir Singh, Joint Group CEO, PB Fintech (title at the time of the July 2026 announcement)
Why it is a Growth Move: An insurance marketplace moved into delivering care, so it can earn on the hospital stay, not just the policy sale.
upGrowth takeaway: Distribution businesses are exposed when a regulator caps commissions. Build a second revenue line you control before someone else sets your take rate.
Kiran Kalakuntla, ekincare: buying claims AI to sell to insurers
What changed: On 6 July 2026, ekincare announced the 100% acquisition of Superclaims, a Hyderabad-based AI claims adjudication SaaS platform for insurers and Third-Party Administrators (TPAs). The company says Superclaims cuts claim processing time from around 90 minutes to under 5 minutes. The Superclaims brand will continue to operate independently, and its founders join ekincare’s broader leadership team. Terms were not disclosed.
“Superclaims brings the missing insurance layer onto our platform, enabling us to build digital healthcare infrastructure that serves every stakeholder, from employers and employees to providers, insurers and TPAs. This moves us beyond healthcare benefits towards creating a truly connected healthcare ecosystem.”Kiran Kalakuntla, Co-founder & CEO, ekincare (extract from a longer statement)
Why it is a Growth Move: An employee-benefits platform added a new customer type, insurers and TPAs, and a SaaS revenue line on top of its employer business.
upGrowth takeaway: Look at who else touches your customer’s money. ekincare served employers and found its next buyer in the claims desk.
What changed: On 8 January 2026, Tandon told Business Standard that Tata 1mg had about 220 stores, targeted 280 to 300 by 31 March 2026, and expected to be closer to 500 by end-2026. Offline is around 7 to 8% of revenue today, and he expects it to reach at least 20 to 25% in the long run. Tata 1mg offers instant delivery in about 7 to 8 cities and has partnered with BigBasket for instant medicine delivery. FY25 consolidated revenue was Rs 2,392 crore, up 21.5%. The 500 figure is a target, not an achievement.
“We’re almost at a store a day run rate now. By the end of this calendar year (2026-end), I would expect us to be closer to 500 stores, and all our stores are also omnichannel stores.”Prashant Tandon, Cofounder and CEO, Tata 1mg (title at the time of the January 2026 interview)
Why it is a Growth Move: An e-pharmacy in a tightly regulated category built a physical, omnichannel network as its second growth engine.
upGrowth takeaway: Stores are a hedge against platform and regulatory risk, not nostalgia. If one channel carries 90%+ of your revenue in a regulated category, start piloting a second one now.
Aditya Kandoi, Redcliffe Labs: buying its way into radiology
What changed: In August 2026, Redcliffe Labs announced it had acquired Pune-based Megavision Diagnostics. Inc42 reported the deal on 20 July at about Rs 40 crore. It adds 2 MRI-equipped centres in Pune’s Pimpri-Chinchwad region and takes Redcliffe beyond pathology into radiology, including MRI, CT scans, sonography, ECG and mammography. Megavision generates about Rs 20 crore a year, and Redcliffe keeps its entire workforce. Inc42 reports Redcliffe’s FY26 revenue at Rs 470 crore and a target of about Rs 700 crore in FY27.
“The true value of diagnostics lies not just in generating insights, but in enabling action. By bringing pathology and radiology closer together, we are strengthening the diagnostic ecosystem to support more informed clinical decisions and timely interventions. Our focus is on building capabilities that make diagnostics more comprehensive, connected, and consequential to patient outcomes.”Aditya Kandoi, Founder & CEO, Redcliffe Labs (statement shared with upGrowth by Redcliffe Labs, October 2026)
Why it is a Growth Move: Redcliffe bought a new service line, imaging, with ready infrastructure and local credibility instead of building capital-heavy centres from scratch.
upGrowth takeaway: Every customer you already serve has a next test. Map the second purchase your customers make elsewhere and decide whether to build, partner or buy it.
Suprita Reddy, Vijaya Diagnostic: a Rs 46 crore entry into the North-East
What changed: On 11 September 2026, Vijaya Diagnostic Centre announced a business transfer agreement to acquire 100% of Arya Wellness Centre, an integrated diagnostic centre in Guwahati, for about Rs 46 crore. It is Vijaya’s entry into North-East India. DSIJ reports Arya’s FY26 revenue at about Rs 26 crore, 56% from pathology and 44% from radiology, with EBITDA of Rs 5.6 crore, which values it at about 8 to 9 times FY26 EBITDA. The deal is expected to close within around 3 months.
“Our entry into Guwahati represents another important milestone in Vijaya’s journey towards building a high-quality integrated diagnostics platform.”Suprita Reddy, Managing Director and CEO, Vijaya Diagnostic Centre
Why it is a Growth Move: A listed regional chain bought a profitable, established centre to open a new state, rather than starting cold.
upGrowth takeaway: Entering a new region? Buy or partner with the local name people already trust, then layer your brand on top. A cold launch in health takes years to earn the same referrals.
Priyadarshi Mohapatra, CureBay: buying a pharmacy network in the South
What changed: On 18 March 2026, CureBay acquired the pharmacy distribution business of Saveo Healthtech for an undisclosed amount. The business serves over 10,000 retail pharmacies across Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, with operational hubs in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. CureBay operates over 190 eClinics, and its hybrid care model runs across Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, so the deal gives it a ready distribution network in South India.
“Medicines are central to continuity of care. By acquiring Saveo’s pharmacy distribution business, we are strengthening our ability to ensure consistent and affordable access to medicines across the communities we serve.”Priyadarshi Mohapatra, Founder and CEO, CureBay
Why it is a Growth Move: A rural care network bought supply-chain capability and a new region in one step, turning medicines from a cost line into a distribution business.
upGrowth takeaway: Non-core units of other startups can be cheap distribution. Keep a list of adjacent companies whose assets would extend your map, and check it every quarter.
Dhruv Gupta, Orange Health Labs: one annual plan instead of pay-per-test
What changed: In January 2026, Orange Health Labs launched Orange One, an annual diagnostics plan priced at Rs 4,999 paid once. It includes a full-body check-up covering 114+ blood markers, after which customers can order any of 100 essential tests free through the year. The company’s FY26 release calls it “a first-of-its-kind annual diagnostics plan in India” and reports Rs 180 crore ARR, with 75+ company-owned collection centres, up from 15 stores the year before.
“By introducing Orange One, we are empowering consumers to embrace routine health tests as an integral part of their lives, making it easier for people to experience the life-changing benefits of regular health monitoring”Dhruv Gupta, Co-founder, Orange Health Labs
Why it is a Growth Move: Orange Health replaced pay-per-test pricing with a prepaid annual plan, which locks in a year of repeat visits.
upGrowth takeaway: If your customers buy from you once a year, sell them a year. A prepaid plan turns one transaction into many touchpoints and funds the acquisition cost upfront.
Vikalp Sahni, Eka Care: a medical speech model sold through APIs
What changed: On 16 February 2026, Eka Care launched Parrotlet-a v2, a compact 5B-parameter speech recognition model built for clinical Hindi and Indian English. The company reports nearly 93% medical keyword accuracy in Indian English and 85% in Hindi, with a 3% phantom speech rate on noise-only datasets. It powers EkaScribe, Eka Care’s AI medical scribe used by over 3,000 doctors, and is available through Eka Care’s developer APIs for other healthcare platforms.
“India’s clinical reality is multilingual, acoustically noisy, and filled with hyper-local medical terminology that global AI systems are not trained to handle,”Vikalp Sahni, Founder & CEO, Eka Care
Why it is a Growth Move: Eka Care turned an in-house model into an API product, so its AI can earn from other platforms, not just its own doctors.
upGrowth takeaway: If you’ve trained a model on data nobody else has, ask who else would pay to use it. An API turns your R&D cost into a B2B revenue line.
Dr Dhruv Joshi, Cloudphysician: a hospital video model heads to the US
What changed: On 9 September 2026, Cloudphysician announced Nightingale, a visual intelligence foundation model that monitors hospital patients around the clock, and said it is expanding into the US market. The company says Nightingale is deployed across 150+ hospitals in India. One on-premise GPU handles 100 concurrent camera streams and the system runs inside the hospital, which the company says cuts inference and bandwidth costs by roughly 100x versus cloud models. It cites about 1 million US hospital beds, around 200,000 of them with cameras, expected to reach 500,000 by 2030.
“Nightingale started in patient rooms, training to pick up the signals a bedside monitor misses and a physician would catch if they could be everywhere at once. This is the kind of AI that can mean the difference between life and death,”Dr Dhruv Joshi, Cofounder & CEO, Cloudphysician
Why it is a Growth Move: A tele-ICU company turned its clinical work into a foundation model and used it to open the US hospital market.
upGrowth takeaway: Services businesses sit on training data. If your team has done the same clinical task thousands of times, that record can become a product you sell beyond your own capacity.
What should growth teams at Series A to C healthtech companies do with this?
The biggest healthtech growth moves of 2026 widened what each company owns of the patient journey. For a Series A to C company, that points to four practical checks.
Find your second purchase. List the next test, medicine, scan or service your customers buy elsewhere after they buy from you. Redcliffe bought radiology and CureBay bought distribution because that money was walking out of the door.
Check who pays, not just who uses. Insurers, TPAs and employers are often easier to sell to than patients. Healthify’s US move runs through insurance-covered care, and ekincare found a new buyer in the claims desk.
Price for a year, not a visit. Test an annual plan or membership against pay-per-use for your top repeat category, and track 12-month revenue per customer, not first-order conversion.
Check how AI engines describe you. Patients and buyers increasingly ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity who leads a category and what it offers. If they get an outdated or wrong answer about you, fix the sources those engines cite before you spend more on paid acquisition.
Nominate a Growth Move for the next edition
We are researching the next editions now, starting with SaaS. If your company made a growth move in 2026 that changed how it grows, tell us what changed, when, and where it is documented. Write to [email protected] with the subject line “Growth Moves nomination”.
Frequently asked questions
What is a growth move?
A growth move is a dated, documented change that alters how a company acquires, monetises, retains or serves customers. It can be a new capability, product, market, care line or distribution channel. Funding rounds, hires and awards on their own do not count.
What were the biggest Indian healthtech growth trends in 2026?
Four patterns stand out from January to September 2026: India-built health products going abroad, insurance and care fused into one product, diagnostics and pharmacy networks bought or built in the physical world, and AI moving into clinical work.
Why did so many Indian healthtech companies make acquisitions in 2026?
Buying gave them assets that are slow to build: MRI centres, pharmacy distribution, claims technology and a clinic abroad. 7 of the 13 moves in this edition were acquisitions or mergers.
Which Indian healthtech companies expanded abroad in 2026?
Ultrahuman returned to the US with Ring PRO, makeO agreed to buy Singapore’s Zenyum, Temple is acquiring London’s Longevous, Cloudphysician is taking its Nightingale model to the US, and Healthify merged with Berry Street, which serves US patients.
How are Indian healthtech companies using AI in 2026?
Beyond chatbots. Eka Care offers its own medical speech model through APIs, Cloudphysician built a video model to monitor hospital patients, and ekincare bought AI that it says cuts claim processing to under 5 minutes.
How were companies selected for Growth Moves?
Each move had to be announced between January and September 2026, documented in a primary or reputable source, and credited to a named leader in that source. Funding rounds alone did not count. No company paid for inclusion.
About Growth Moves: Growth Moves is a research series by upGrowth, a growth consultancy that has worked with 250+ companies across fintech, healthcare, SaaS, D2C and EdTech since 2017. Each edition examines the specific moves reshaping growth in one sector. SaaS is next. See all editions. Edition: Healthtech. Research period: January to September 2026. Facts checked against the linked sources on 16 October 2026. Updated 16 October 2026: Aditya Kandoi’s quote replaced with a statement Redcliffe Labs shared with upGrowth.
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