Gurugram-based healthcare startup Oncare has raised ₹27 crore in a Series A funding round led by Sky Impact Capital, joining a wave of investment in specialised healthcare providers in India. The round also saw participation from Huddle Ventures, Lotus Herbal Group, Steerx, and Tremis Capital. Oncare will use this capital to expand its oncology care services into new markets, invest in infrastructure, and help bridge the gap in accessible cancer treatment across the country.
A Targeted Mission: Expand Cancer Care Access
Oncare focuses on building and operating comprehensive oncology departments within mid-sized, non-branded hospitals. Instead of creating full hospitals from scratch, the startup embeds specialist cancer-care services into existing facilities. This approach allows quicker deployment, wider reach, and lower overall cost of infrastructure.
Founders Amar Sneh and Deepak Kumar, both former executives at the health-tech platform Pristyn Care, launched Oncare in 2023 with a clear goal: make high-quality cancer treatment more accessible and affordable in India.
Why Oncare’s Model Matters
Cancer care in India presents a significant challenge due to uneven distribution of specialists, high treatment costs, and overburdened tertiary hospitals in major cities. Many patients from smaller towns travel long distances to access advanced oncology services. Oncare’s model brings focused cancer treatment closer to where patients live, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 markets where access remains limited.
Instead of building standalone cancer hospitals that require heavy capital and regulatory hurdles, Oncare partners with existing mid-sized hospitals and converts sections into fully equipped oncology departments. This strategy helps reduce setup time and helps facilities begin offering specialised care much faster.
Funding Round Signals Strong Confidence
The ₹27 crore Series A round reflects growing investor interest in mission-driven healthcare startups. Sky Impact Capital led the investment, bringing strategic support and sector insight. Participation from investors like Huddle Ventures and Lotus Herbal Group adds depth to the startup’s backing and signals belief in Oncare’s potential to scale across India.
Series A funding represents a major milestone for any startup as it moves beyond seed capital and begins to execute larger expansion plans. Oncare’s successful financing gives it the means to invest both in people and infrastructure at a time when cancer prevalence continues to rise nationally.
Strategic Plans for Geographic Growth
Oncare already operates four centres across the Delhi-NCR region, gaining valuable operational experience and patient insights. With the new capital, the startup plans to enter markets such as Bengaluru and several tertiary cities in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal.
Deepak Kumar, co-founder of Oncare, highlighted the expansion strategy during a recent discussion about the funding round. He said the company wants to open oncology departments in areas where the gap between demand and supply of quality cancer services remains widest. In many parts of eastern and central India, patients still travel to Delhi or other metros — a journey that adds financial strain and emotional stress to already difficult treatment regimens.
Making Treatment More Affordable
One of Oncare’s key differentiators lies in its transparent and cost-effective pricing. The startup claims it can offer chemotherapy sessions at roughly 40% lower cost than many corporate hospitals — around ₹24,000-25,000 compared with ₹40,000 or more. Similarly, surgical oncology procedures cost 30-40% less on its network compared with larger private hospitals.
This pricing advantage comes from a combination of focused services, lean operational workflows, and efficient procurement practices. Operating within mid-sized hospitals helps Oncare maintain lower overheads, which benefits patients and supports more sustainable pricing structures.
Scale Through Partnerships and Network Strategy
Oncare’s strategy emphasizes partnerships rather than building standalone facilities. By integrating oncology services into established hospitals, Oncare taps into existing infrastructure while delivering specialised care under one roof. This model allows the startup to scale without the heavy capital costs associated with hospital construction.
These partnerships also help local hospitals enhance their service portfolio and retain more patients for specialized procedures. Instead of referring complicated cancer cases to distant centres, partner hospitals can now offer chemotherapy, surgery, and follow-up care onsite.
Focus on Patient Experience and Quality of Care
Oncare’s model prioritizes not only affordability but also standardization and patient experience. Delivering high-quality cancer care requires coordination among medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiation specialists, nurses, and support staff. Oncare assembles multidisciplinary teams that work together to deliver comprehensive treatment plans.
The startup also works to streamline clinical operations and improve care coordination. Investment in technology and process optimization helps reduce administrative friction, ensure smooth patient journeys, and support doctors with real-time data access.
This focus on quality proves critical in a disease category where outcomes and patient satisfaction depend heavily on individualized care and continuity.
Leadership With Healthcare Expertise
Both founders bring relevant experience from their tenure at Pristyn Care, a digital health platform that focuses on elective surgery access. Their background in building scalable healthcare networks and navigating patient acquisition challenges lends credibility to Oncare’s expansion phase.
Their leadership team understands the nuances of healthcare delivery — from regulatory compliance to clinical operations — which positions the startup well as it scales into more markets.
Impact So Far: Demonstrating Traction
Since its inception, Oncare reports significant interaction with the patient community. The startup says it has engaged with over 30,000 patients, facilitated around 3,000 consultations, and delivered more than 4,000 treatment procedures. These numbers help validate Oncare’s model and demonstrate its emerging footprint in the oncology care landscape.
These early figures show that the market responds positively to Oncare’s value proposition, particularly its focus on affordability and proximity of care.
Navigating Challenges Ahead
Oncare faces a series of execution challenges as it expands. Standardizing quality across new centres requires strict protocols, staff training, and investment in medical equipment. Maintaining affordability while scaling will demand procurement efficiencies and smart operational practices.
Healthcare still grapples with talent shortages, especially in specialised fields like oncology. Oncare must attract and retain skilled oncologists and support personnel to uphold care standards across its network.
Moreover, addressing fragmented regulatory environments across states will require strategic planning. Each region has its own compliance frameworks, and aligning new centres with local requirements will remain a continuous task.
The Broader Oncology Startup Boom
Investment into Oncare joins a larger trend of funding flowing into specialized healthcare startups. Companies such as 4baseCare and RISA Labs recently raised significant capital rounds to bring data-driven oncology solutions and AI-enabled clinical tools to the market. This activity shows investor confidence in healthcare innovation focused on cancer care and reflects growing demand for scalable solutions.
A Vision for Pan-India Cancer Care
Oncare aims to build a pan-India network of cancer care centres that combine affordability, quality, and accessibility. By embedding services inside existing hospitals, the company balances rapid expansion with cost-efficient delivery.
Investors are backing this vision because it tackles a clear and urgent need: empowering patients across regions where specialized cancer care remains limited or financially out of reach.
As Oncare deploys its funding toward new centres, strengthened teams, and improved operational systems, the startup moves closer to transforming how millions of patients access cancer treatment across India.
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