Doctalk CEO Akshat Goenka resigns, 100 people laid off
Akshat Goenka's resignation comes ahead of Doctalk's pivot to a new business segment
New Delhi: Health-tech startup DocTalk Solutions Inc. co-founder and chief executive officer Akshat Goenka has resigned. “It was voluntary. It was the right time to take some time off from work given my health and other personal issues,” Goenka said over the phone. He resigned in August.
Since the beginning of the year, DocTalk, which has raised roughly $5 million from Matrix Partners and Khosla Ventures, among others, has laid off nearly 100 people. “It was a good time for the team to restructure some of the performing and non-performing people. But apart from that, I don’t see anything completely unforeseen happening.” Goenka’s exit comes ahead of the two-year old company’s pivot to a new business segment. The company now has less than 40 employees.
DocTalk started off as an enabler of communication between doctors and patients through its mobile app. It has now built an electronic medical record (EMR) solution, which will help doctors write prescriptions digitally and provides customised prescription templates. “We have been planning for a while, but there is no big business model change per se,” Goenka added.
The company’s new product has been developed and is being sold to doctors. DocTalk has been quietly executing the transition to the new business model for a few months.
The revamp signals a difficulty in scaling up the previous business at DocTalk, forcing it to look for an alternative.The new EMR solution costs much more than DocTalk’s communication software.
DocTalk’s struggles are a warning for a clutch of other startups that have launched online doctor consultation services. Startups like Mfine, Doctor Insta, Lybrate and even Practo connect doctors with patients online.
The company was in advanced talks to raise $10 million led by Nexus Venture Partners, according to a report by The Economic Times. However, the discussions did not materialise.
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First Published:26 Nov 2018, 04:51 AM IST
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