Health-tech startup Dectrocel has raised an investment of ₹4 crore in a funding round led by BioAngels of IAN Group, PadUp Ventures and Vinners. High-profile investors like Nitin Zamre, Samir Kalia and Mitesh Shah, all affiliated with the Indian Angel Network also participated in the funding round.
The funding provides crucial backing for the Lucknow-based company, which is focused on developing and commercialising AI-driven diagnostic solutions. The startup intends to use the capital to expand its operations across India, strengthen its proprietary technology, and begin building an international footprint.
Scaling operations and research
The company said the funds will be allocated to four main areas. First, expanding its commercial operations and partnerships with hospitals and diagnostic centers across India; second, improving its self-learning multimodal AI platform which is the base of all of its diagnostic products. Third, accelerating the development of new modules for CT, MRI, PET-CT and hepato-pancreatico-biliary (HPB) imaging. Finally, the company intends to establish a presence in Southeast Asian markets, where access to radiology services remains limited.
The company also plans to expand distribution through original equipment manufacturer (OEM) networks, positioning its solutions within imaging devices and hospital systems to ensure wider reach.
DecXpert: the flagship AI tool
At the centre of Dectrocel’s portfolio is its flagship product DecXpert, an AI-enabled diagnostic platform designed to assist radiologists and clinicians. DecXpert provides chest X-ray and CT scan interpretations, delivering faster reporting and consistent accuracy.
The company has highlighted that DecXpert is among a small group of AI diagnostic tools cleared for clinical use by India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). Dectrocel claims that its platform can interpret scans up to ten times faster than conventional methods while achieving very high accuracy levels.
Independent validation provides an important context to these claims. A multicentre study published in Scientific Reports in 2023 evaluated DecXpert on over 4,300 patients for tuberculosis detection. The study reported 88% sensitivity and 85% specificity, with an area under the curve of 0.91 when demographic factors were included. These findings confirm strong clinical promise, even if they differ from the simplified accuracy percentages often cited in startup announcements.
Addressing the shortage of radiologists
India is known to have a severe lack of radiologists, with estimates putting the ratio at about 1 radiologist per every 100,000 individuals. This will lead to delays in medical image interpretation. This is especially true in the less-populated parts of India such as smaller cities and villages. This means patients are waiting as long as 10 days for a report, while error rates have remained high.
Dectrocel positions DecXpert as a way to bridge this gap. By automating initial interpretations and supporting human radiologists, the company aims to ensure that a patient in a tier-3 city can access diagnostic quality comparable to that in a metropolitan hospital.
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Clinical collaborations and TB screening
In addition to imaging interpretation, Dectrocel has partnered with Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) in Lucknow to create an AI-based mobile application for screening tuberculosis. The app quickly processes chest X-rays (effectively within seconds) and has shown strong accuracy in initial trials.
The Scientific Reports paper that evaluated DecXpert was co-authored with SGPGIMS researchers and underscores the clinical potential of the technology. With India recording over two million TB cases annually, faster and more accurate screening tools could significantly strengthen public health systems.
Founder’s journey
Dectrocel was founded in 2020 by Ankit Shukla, Saumya Shukla and Nikhil Mishra. Their motivation was partly personal, following the misdiagnosis of a patient whose lung cancer was detected only at a late stage. This experience reinforced the need for AI tools that could support doctors in making faster and more accurate calls.
The founding team brings strong academic and professional credentials. Ankit Shukla has experience in AI in medicine and research collaborations with global universities. Saumya Shukla holds advanced qualifications in public health and data science, while Nikhil Mishra brings expertise in machine learning from his academic work at IIT Kanpur.
Market opportunity and outlook
In India, the addressable market for digital X-ray is estimated to be in excess of ₹ 1,000 crore and growing rapidly as hospitals upgrade their imaging technology. Dectrocel is looking to participate in the market by licensing its technology and embedding it into original equipment manufacturer systems.
By expanding into Southeast Asia, the company is also looking at markets that face similar shortages of radiology expertise. Its strategy involves diversifying product offerings into multiple imaging modalities, while strengthening its AI to adapt across pathologies.
Transforming healthcare accessibility with AI
The ₹4 crore investment is a monumental step for Dectrocel, which is moving from research and pilot deployments to commercialization. With strong backing from investors, one of the priority regulations approved for its flagship tool and validated by peer review; Dectrocel is poised to make an impact in this area of democratizing access to diagnostics.
Even though AI and its applications in healthcare remain a field of opportunity that is still primarily a frontend-to-backend practice requiring robust oversight and ongoing clinical validation, what Dectrocel has demonstrated is the ability of technology to patch the gaps in India’s overstretched healthcare system. If these solutions work as intended, Dectrocel’s portfolio of innovations offers the prospect of accurate and timely diagnostics to millions of patients from the urban centres to the country’s farthest corners.
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