Sugandha Agarwal co-founded Docttocare in 2016 to bridge the healthcare gap by helping patients from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities access specialist doctors, hospitals, and treatment services.
From Google Maps to healthcare entrepreneurship, explore Sugandha Agarwal’s journey of building Docttocare into a platform connecting patients with trusted specialists across India.
Written by TFN Research Desk | covering startups, technology, venture capital, and business strategy.
Table of Contents
- Who is Sugandha Agarwal?
- Early Life and Education
- Career Before Docttocare
- How Docttocare Started
- Funding History
- Growth and Recent Challenges
- Public Recognition
- Docttocare vs Competitors
- Investor Perspective
- Founder Timeline
- Key Takeaways
- FAQs
- Sources
Who is Sugandha Agarwal?
Sugandha Agarwal co-founded Docttocare in 2016 with Mrinal Kanti Ghosh, building a healthcare platform that connects patients in India’s Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities with specialist doctors and hospitals in major metros. An electrical, electronics, and communications engineer by training, she left roles at Infosys, Oracle, and Google Maps to build a company addressing a problem she’d witnessed growing up in a smaller city herself.
Early Life and Education
Agarwal comes from a Tier-2 city background, a fact she has cited directly as the source of her founding insight: “I am from Tier 2 city and know the pain of a patient family.” She earned her engineering degree in Electrical, Electronics and Communication from a university affiliated with Uttar Pradesh Technical University. Not publicly disclosed is further detail on her hometown, birth year, or family background.
Career Before Docttocare
Agarwal worked at Infosys, Oracle, and Google Maps, where she served as a Business Analyst, before founding Docttocare. She has said it was during these corporate roles that she developed the confidence to build a mass-market product, even though she describes herself as someone who “does everything except writing codes,” relying instead on her engineering background to work closely with product and technical teams. She has also spoken candidly about feeling that her corporate work added minimal value relative to the impact she wanted to make, a dissatisfaction that pushed her toward entrepreneurship.
How Docttocare Started
Agarwal and Ghosh founded Docttocare in Bengaluru in 2016, naming it from “Doctor to care.” The core insight was straightforward: patients from smaller cities often had to travel to metros for quality specialist treatment but lacked any single platform to find the right doctor, get a cost estimate, arrange transport and accommodation, and access financing for surgery. Early customer acquisition was entirely on-the-ground; the team visited roughly 20 clinics a day in Bengaluru to onboard doctors before realising that Tier-2 patients, not metro ones, were the platform’s real audience, since they were more willing to travel for reputed specialists and needed the most logistical help.
Funding History
| Round | Year | Amount | Lead Investor(s) |
| Angel round | May 2019 | Rs 4 crore (~$567K) | Krishna Kumar Devnally |
Docttocare has raised $567K in a single disclosed angel round, per Tracxn, making it a largely bootstrapped operation relative to many venture-backed healthtech peers. The company also participated in the NASSCOM 10,000 Startups programme for mentorship and ecosystem support.
Growth and Recent Challenges
Docttocare built partnerships with major hospital chains including Apollo, Manipal, and Medanta, operating on a commission-based model that charges hospitals roughly 10% per booking while keeping the service free for patients. As of April 2025, the company had 91 employees, though Tracxn data shows headcount down 39% year-over-year, suggesting a period of contraction or restructuring rather than continued rapid scaling. Detailed revenue figures have not been publicly disclosed.
Public Recognition
Agarwal has been featured across Indian entrepreneurship media including StartupTalky, BW People, and YourStory, and was recognised at Mrs. India 2024. She has spoken publicly about the specific disadvantage of being a solo female founder in early fundraising, recalling one prominent angel investor who rejected her pitch outright, citing her gender before even discussing the business.
Docttocare vs Competitors
| Brand | Founded | Latest Data | Positioning |
| Docttocare | 2016 | 91 employees (Apr 2025) | Tier-2/3 patient-to-specialist bridge, surgery logistics and financing |
| Pristyn Care | 2018 | Not publicly disclosed | Surgical care platform, better funded, broader metro presence |
| BestDoc | 2016 | Not publicly disclosed | Hospital-facing patient engagement software |
Docttocare occupies a narrower niche than better-funded rivals like Pristyn Care, focusing specifically on the logistical and financial barriers facing patients from smaller cities rather than competing broadly across all surgical categories.
Investor Perspective
Agarwal’s qualification came from lived experience rather than a healthcare background; her engineering and product exposure at companies like Google Maps gave her the operational skills to build a platform, while her Tier-2 upbringing gave her the specific customer insight. Her strength lies in solving a genuine logistical gap, travel, accommodation, and financing, that larger hospital-booking apps don’t fully address. The risk is capital: with only one disclosed funding round since 2019 and a shrinking headcount, Docttocare appears to be operating leaner than venture-backed peers like Pristyn Care, which could limit its ability to scale nationally. If the company can secure fresh capital and expand its hospital network, its focused positioning in an underserved segment gives it a defensible niche.
Founder Timeline
- 2016 — Co-founds Docttocare with Mrinal Kanti Ghosh in Bengaluru
- 2016-2019 — Builds hospital partnerships and refines Tier-2 city focus
- 2019 — Receives Rs 4 crore angel funding from Krishna Kumar Devnally
- 2019 — Joins NASSCOM 10,000 Startups programme
- 2024 — Recognised at Mrs. India 2024
- 2025 — Reports 91 employees, with headcount down from the prior year
Key Takeaways
- Agarwal built Docttocare around a problem she experienced personally growing up in a Tier-2 city, not a market gap she spotted from outside it.
- Early on-the-ground customer acquisition, visiting 20 clinics a day, revealed that Tier-2 patients, not metro ones, were the real target audience.
- Facing explicit gender bias from investors as a solo female founder shaped how she approached subsequent fundraising.
- Remaining largely bootstrapped after a single 2019 angel round suggests a leaner growth path than venture-backed healthtech peers.
- Partnering with major hospital chains like Apollo and Medanta gave a small startup credibility disproportionate to its funding size.
FAQs
Who founded Docttocare?
Sugandha Agarwal and Mrinal Kanti Ghosh, in 2016.
What did Agarwal do before Docttocare?
Worked at Infosys, Oracle, and as a Business Analyst at Google Maps.
How much funding has Docttocare raised?
Rs 4 crore (~$567K) in a single disclosed angel round in 2019, per Tracxn.
What problem does Docttocare solve?
It helps patients from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities find specialists, get surgery cost estimates, and arrange travel, stay, and financing for treatment in major cities.
Is Sugandha Agarwal the sole founder of Docttocare?
No, she co-founded the company with Mrinal Kanti Ghosh.
Sources
- Success Story of Docttocare – Doctor Appointment, Blood Bank and Ambulance Online — StartupTalky
- Sugandha Agarwal Bringing Positive Changes to the Healthcare in India — Dutch Uncles
- Docttocare – 2025 Company Profile, Team, Funding & Competitors — Tracxn
- Sugandha Agarwal, CEO – Founder at Docttocare — Great Companies
- Winning Stroke: Interview with Sugandha Agarwal, CEO, and Founder at Docttocare — BW People
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