Pinky Promise

Pinky Promise

Pinky Promise

AI-powered digital clinic for women’s sexual and reproductive health where women can chat with a Gynaecologist and get instant and great care at $1

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

IND

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

In India, more than 260 million women cannot go to a gynecologist when they have a sexual or reproductive health issue. Firstly, India only has one gynecologist for nearly 10,000 women of reproductive age as there are hardly 70,000 registered gynecologists in India (https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/paediatrics-to-gynae-where-are-the-surgeons-physicians/). Secondly, there is a lot of fear of judgement and social shaming when it comes to seeking gynecological care and so, many women are scared to visit a gynecologist. Thirdly, it can be prohibitively expensive (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1285083/). More than 80% of care, even for the poorest women, occurs in private clinics, and there is no insurance. It costs nearly $50, in out of pocket expenses, to talk to a gynecologist and take the basic tests to confirm a diagnosis. This is more than 50% of a poor family’s monthly household income. So, women put off or are not able to go to a gynecologist. As a result, Indian women suffer from adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes. For example, 1 in 5 cervical cancer deaths occur in India, despite more than 90% of cervical cancers being treatable (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(22)00501-0/fulltext).

Pinky Promise enables a woman to move from having a problem, to connecting with a gynecologist, and getting a prescription in minutes, all at an affordable price of ~$1. When a woman has a sexual or reproductive healthcare issue, she can come to our app, click a button, and connect with a gynecologist. Our custom trained an AI model screens for symptoms and medical history, and builds out a suggested prescription for the gynecologist to review. This model cuts all the ‘busy work’ for a doctor, enabling her to understand the patient’s concerns and diagnosis and respond effectively. On Pinky Promise, one gynecologist can care for ~250 patients/ 8 hr shift. Because we use our AI to do the initial analysis and doctors verify this, we are able to price affordably. Our doctors chat with the patient till she is better, supported by an AI co-pilot that suggests responses to the Doctors, enabling personalized, long-term care. We deliver care through our mobile app, in the privacy of a woman’s phone, thus eliminating a lot of social stigma and privacy concerns associated with in-person care. https://drive.google.com/file/d/107n8kAt9CCAw-bUAFrf93h8JYvnVgZTD/view?usp=sharing

Our solution serves young women, between the ages of 18-32 to whom quality sexual and reproductive health is inaccessible due to physical, social and/or financial reasons. Increasingly more young women are becoming connected to the world on their mobile devices. The National Family health survey found in 2023 that, 63% of young women were online on smartphones. They have infections, questions about birth control, problems with their menstrual health or pregnancy concerns which go unanswered and unaddressed. As a result, they often find themselves taking home remedies or worse, doing things which are toxic to their bodies. These women also present an opportunity - the mobile usage gap between young men and women is very small and rapidly closing so young women are increasing going online to find solutions for sexual and reproductive healthcare. Already, our data shows our penetration among this audience. More than 70% of our users come from underserved regions, 40% are low income, and more than 50% have never been to a gynecologist before. Young women like the ones we serve, are the women that can uplift their families with good health but for whom, an unforeseen healthcare event can turn calamitous.