With India grappling with a severe shortage of skilled healthcare professionals and a widening global demand for allied health workers, healthcare education startup Virohan is betting on scale, global mobility and outcome-linked degrees to plug the gap.
The company has raised ₹65 crore in its ongoing Series B round, led by Japan’s Mynavi Corporation, with participation from Blume Ventures and existing investors. The fresh capital will be used to expand access to healthcare degree programmes across India and to build international placement corridors for Indian healthcare workers.
Healthcare is the largest employment-generating sector globally, yet faces a massive supply crunch. According to the World Health Organization, the global healthcare workforce shortage stands at 18 million, while India alone faces a deficit of around 6 million allied health professionals and 1.9 million nurses.
“Our goal is to make healthcare education accessible across India while positioning the country as a key supplier to the global healthcare workforce,” Kunaal Dudeja, Co-Founder and CEO of Virohan, told CNBC-TV18.
Bridging India’s education-to-employment gap
Founded in 2018, Virohan partners with universities to offer industry-aligned healthcare degree programmes focused on employability. Rather than operating as a standalone edtech platform, the company works as an industry partner to higher education institutions, aligning curriculum, training and assessments with real-world healthcare needs.
Virohan currently works with over 20 universities and has built partnerships with more than 2,000 healthcare employers, up from fewer than 100 employers when it started operations seven years ago.
“What we ensure is job readiness from day one — soft skills, behavioural skills and hands-on practical exposure,” Dudeja said. “In many cases, students receive conditional internship and job offer letters at the time of enrolment.”
The company has tie-ups with healthcare and diagnostics players such as Lenskart, Orange Health and Redcliffe, which guarantee internships and potential full-time roles upon successful completion of training.
So far, Virohan has trained over 13,000 healthcare professionals, primarily across allied healthcare roles.
India as a global supplier of healthcare talent
Beyond domestic placements, Virohan is increasingly focusing on international opportunities as demand for trained healthcare workers surges overseas.
The company is currently running pilot programmes for international placements in Japan and Germany, two countries facing acute ageing-related healthcare workforce shortages.
“We are already sending a small number of students to Japan and Germany as part of pilots,” Dudeja said. “Over the next few years, we plan to open structured corridors to Europe, Japan, Australia and other regions.”
International placements, he added, not only offer higher income opportunities for Indian healthcare workers but also bring foreign currency earnings back to India, strengthening the country’s position in global healthcare services.
However, overseas placements come with challenges, including language requirements, certification equivalence and country-specific regulations. Virohan says it is building specialised training and compliance frameworks to address these hurdles.
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Expansion within India, profitability in sight
Domestically, Virohan’s presence is currently concentrated in North India. The company plans to expand into South and East India as it scales university partnerships and student enrolments.
Financially, the company has recorded 2x year-on-year revenue growth for seven consecutive years and is targeting profitability by FY27-28, supported by unit-level profitability and operating leverage as scale increases.
“Funding is not being used to chase profitability — we are already unit economics positive,” Dudeja said. “With scale, profitability will naturally follow.”
What to watch next
Over the next 12-18 months, Virohan expects:
An initial public offering could follow in the coming years once these milestones are achieved, Dudeja indicated.
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