Some startup stories are loud.
They begin with pitch decks, funding headlines, and growth curves that spike overnight.
They talk about speed, scale, and success—often in that order.
icareheal’s story is different.
It didn’t begin on a stage.
It didn’t grow overnight.
And it was never built to impress.
It was built to last on the same principles as Jim Collins wrote in his book with the same title.
This is the story of five years of icareheal—not as a milestone, but as a movement.
A healthcare startup built quietly, intentionally, and ethically—one conversation, one doctor,
and one hard decision at a time.
The Beginning: Moonlighting with Conviction (2020–2021)
In late 2020, while holding full-time jobs, Sunil and Vikrant, long-time school friends, came together to work on a shared problem. Nights. Weekends. Whatever time was left after life.
They wrote requirements, debated workflows, broke deployments, and rebuilt again. There was no deep tech background.
No large team.
No safety net of capital.
There was only one belief.
Finding the right doctor—especially after moving to a bigger city—was harder than it should be.
Early engineers worked with limited resources. Deployments failed. Systems crashed.
Progress felt painfully slow. Some days, nothing seemed to move at all.
Then came one piece of advice from Raghu, at a moment when everything felt
stuck: “Go live with what you have.”
On 31 December 2021, icareheal quietly went live with its first pilot—22 doctors.
No announcements.
No marketing.
No celebration.
Just intent.
The very next day, 1 January 2022, Sunil took the biggest leap possible. With conversations already held with 1,000+ doctors, and the backing of family, he joined icareheal full-time.
There was no turning back.
The First Yes: When Belief Meets Reality (2022)
The first year in the market is rarely glamorous.
For icareheal, it was humbling.
There were 46 straight days of hearing “no.”
Cold calls. Follow-ups. Silence. Rejections.
And then, on 26 February 2022, Dr. Chaitali Rajput, an Ayurvedic doctor from Mumbai,
said yes.
icareheal had its first customer.
She didn’t just buy a product.
She validated a belief.
Around the same time, our first full-time team member, Shruti, joined us. She started
working on a borrowed laptop—with just one intention: make sure we deliver, no matter
what. She stayed through the good days and the difficult ones, becoming a quiet constant in
the journey
In April 2022, the first external funds came in—from family and close believers, including
Vishnu Hari Jalan and Poonam Tharad. They didn’t invest because the numbers looked
impressive. They invested because the intent felt real.
By the end of 2022, icareheal had something far more valuable than scale:
Clarity.
A real understanding of doctors’ needs.
Not assumptions.
Not slides.
Reality.
First Momentum: Learning to Build Together (Feb–Sept 2023)
With learning came momentum.
On 1 March 2023, Annu—who had closely observed the journey for two years—took a bold step and joined icareheal full-time.
In April 2023, Vikrant left his job to do the same.
Teams expanded.
Sales became more predictable.
Engineering moved fully in-house—with Abhinav (Annu’s college friend) joining as a blessing at a pivotal moment, bringing stability and direction when it mattered most.
In August 2023, someone who had seen Sunil and Annu’s work ethic up close—Siddharth Banerjee, an ex-boss from Pearson—placed his trust in icareheal.
It wasn’t just capital.
It was a belief from outside the immediate circle.
Confidence grew.
For a while, it felt like the hardest part was behind us.
It wasn’t.
Reset: The Lessons That Hurt (Oct 2023 – June 2024)
Then came a phase that tested everything.
Vikrant exited for personal reasons
Annu went on maternity, a once-in-a-lifetime personal milestone
Delhi NCR slowed down
Mumbai didn’t work as expected
Doctors couldn’t be supported adequately due to limited resources
The bank balance went negative
Multiple investors declined—some even after initial interest.
By June 2024, icareheal was close to shutting down.
But something held.
During this period, Siddharth stood firmly beside Sunil—opening doors, speaking to investors, and keeping belief alive when momentum felt fragile.
In December 2023, Hari—Sunil’s mentor since 2006—invested. Not as a financial bet, but as an act of belief.
The entire icareheal team stayed focused and kept building. Kept serving customers. Kept
showing up.
This phase reshaped icareheal.
We became sharper.
More disciplined.
Less emotional about ideas.
More focused on outcomes.
The lesson was clear:
Scale only works when foundations are strong.
The Comeback: Quiet Survival, Slow Wins (July 2024 – March 2025)
By July 2024, the rebuild began—this time with resilience.
Annu returned, stronger after one of the toughest yet most rewarding phases of her life. Vallish, a long-time partner and friend, came in as an angel investor.
Something powerful happened next:
Doctors—our customers—became our investors.
Leadership stabilised.
Product and engineering became steady.
Hyderabad exceeded expectations.
There was no looking back.
Stability, Confidence, Clarity (April – December 2025)
icareheal now had something rare:
People who used the product daily.
People who had seen the effort behind the screens.
People who trusted us beyond contracts.
New cities were tested.
Some resisted.
Some embraced.
Mumbai took time. Trust wasn’t instant—but once earned, engagement there became the
highest.
Processes matured.
Teams stabilised.
Consistency replaced chaos
icareheal today stands on:
● Serving 1,500+ doctors across multiple cities
● A fully in-house engineering team
● Repeatable sales and customer success systems
● Growing subscription value—from early experiments to long-term partnerships
● Built sustainably, ethically, and profitably
Most importantly—without losing sight of why we exist.
Five Years, One Screen, Many Stories
Today, we celebrated five years of icareheal—not in a hall, not with banners or confetti—but on a screen that held something far more meaningful.
From different cities, homes, and time zones, the icareheal team logged in for a virtual celebration that felt anything but distant. What began as a simple call slowly turned into a space filled with laughter, games, friendly competition, and shared joy. There were prizes, playful moments, and plenty of giggles—but beneath the fun was something deeper.
People shared their stories.
What icareheal meant to them.
Why this journey felt personal.
How this wasn’t just “work,” but a chapter of their own lives.
There were moments of laughter that needed no mute button, moments of emotion that caught us by surprise, and moments of quiet pride as we listened to each other. Stories of staying through uncertainty. Of growing alongside the company. Of believing—sometimes before results showed up.
Even through screens, there was togetherness. A reminder that icareheal has never been about offices or locations—it has always been about people showing up for each other.
As the call ended, one feeling stayed with us all: This journey belongs to every person who has built it, believed in it, and grown with it.
Five years later, we didn’t feel finished—we felt ready.
We celebrated a shared story—still unfolding.
Looking Five Years Ahead:
Again, figuring things out, Ready for another Chaos, but with more conviction, larger
strength, and better clarity.
No shortcuts.
No inflated stories.
Just steady progress.
Because healthcare doesn’t need louder startups.
It needs steadier ones.
And this is just the beginning
A Note from the Founders
When we look back at the last five years, what stays with us most isn’t the milestones—it’s the people.
The investors who trusted us early.
The team members who stayed when things were uncertain.
The doctors who chose feedback over walking away.
icareheal has been built one conversation at a time—often imperfectly, sometimes slowly, but always with intent.
We’ve learned that building a meaningful healthcare company isn’t about moving fast at all
costs. It’s about listening deeply, earning trust repeatedly, and choosing long-term value over short-term wins.
Five years in, we are more grounded than ever in why we exist—and more excited about what lies ahead.
Thank you for being part of this journey, in ways big and small.
We’re just getting started.
— Sunil Agarwal & Annu Ganeriwal
Co-founders, icareheal