Ratan Tata backs emergency response start-up MUrgency

MUrgency had earlier raised funding from Infosys co-founders Kris Gopalakrishnan and S D Shibulal's Axilor Ventures

MUrgency, a medical emergency response startup founded by India-born Shaffi Mather in Silicon Valley has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata Group.

The firm which was founded in 2014 in the Valley and incubated in Stanford ChangeLabs, launched its services in India in February 2016. In April, MUrgency raised funding from Infosys co-founders Kris Gopalakrishnan and S D Shibulal's Axilor Ventures.

MUrgency launched its service in the TriCity area of Punjab with a network of 36 hospitals, 40 ambulances and over 350 medical professionals. The company will deploy funds to expand its service to Amritsar and Jalandhar by the end of May and will service the entire state of Punjab by June.

"He (Ratan Tata) clearly wanted us to launch and grow the network in India first before taking it overseas. Tata's investment in MUrgency will help attract leading talent to the company and major partnerships beyond India," said Mather, who founded MUrgency.

Outlining its plans for the future, MUrgency says it aims to make its service available across India by 2018 and across the world by 2020.

The investment in MUrgency is Tata's fourth investment in the healthcare sector, backing firms such as Lybrate, Swasth India and Invictus Oncology. Overall, Tata has sunk his own money (albeit small amounts) into nearly 30 startup companies including Snapdeal, Paytm and Chinese phonemaker Xiaomi so far.