Dectrocel, a startup developing AI-powered diagnostic solutions, raises Rs 4 crore in funding

Dectrocel, a healthtech startup developing AI-powered diagnostic solutions, has raised Rs 4 crore in recent funding. The round was led by IAN Group-powered BioAngels, with participation from PadUp Ventures and Vinners.

Advertisment

Key investors from IAN in this round include Nitin Zamre, Samir Kalia, and Mitesh Shah.  

The startup plans to use the raised capital to scale its commercial operations across India, enhance its self-learning foundational multimodal AI technology, expand into international markets, and accelerate the launch of its upcoming AI Tools in CT /MRI/PET-CT and HPB diagnostic modules.

Headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Dectrocel has launched its flagship product, DecXpert, which is one of only three AI-based diagnostic tools approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) for clinical use in India.

The startup claims that its platform delivers chest X-ray and CT-scan interpretations that are 10 times faster and 98% accurate, addressing India’s acute radiologist shortage - currently at a staggering 1:125,000 doctor-to-patient ratio. This shortage results in diagnosis delays of 7 to 10 days and error rates of up to 40%, particularly in tier-2 and smaller cities where timely intervention can be life-saving.

Dectrocel was founded by Ankit Shukla, an AI-in-medicine expert from the University of Queensland; MS in Infectious Diseases from Duke Medical School, NUS, Singapore. Saumya Shukla, a Doctorate in Public Health from SGPGIMS with an MBA from NUS and MS in Data Science from Harvard; and Nikhil Mishra, an IIT Kanpur Researcher specializing in AI and machine learning applications in medicine.

The startup's mission stems from a deeply personal experience where a patient with a persistent cough went undiagnosed for months due to delayed X-ray interpretations and ultimately succumbed to late-stage lung cancer. This tragedy transformed the founders’ vision into a life-saving mission to democratize access to expert-level diagnostic capabilities for every patient, regardless of geography or income.