In 2025, the Mumbai-based healthtech startup Qure.ai was honored with the Top Innovator award at the Economic Times Startup Awards. This recognition celebrated Qure.ai’s impressive work using artificial intelligence (AI) to develop diagnostic tools that make healthcare more affordable and accessible to people worldwide. The company’s innovative AI solutions are now used in over 100 countries, changing how diseases like tuberculosis, lung cancer, and pulmonary disorders are diagnosed and treated.
The Beginning: A Vision to Change Healthcare
Qure.ai was founded in 2016 by Prashant Warier and his team with a clear mission: to use AI to improve healthcare for everyone, especially those in underserved and remote areas. In many parts of the world, including India, access to trained doctors and diagnostic facilities is limited. This delay in diagnosis can lead to severe health complications or even death.
Qure.ai decided to solve this problem by creating AI tools that assist doctors and health workers in quickly and accurately reading medical images such as X-rays and CT scans. Their goal was to reduce diagnostic errors, speed up treatment, and make quality healthcare affordable at a global scale.
How Qure.ai Works: AI-Powered Diagnostics
Qure.ai’s main technology is based on deep learning, a type of AI that can learn patterns from large amounts of data. The company trained its AI models using millions of medical images to recognize signs of diseases that can be hard even for experts to detect quickly.
Some of their key products include:
qXR: An AI-based tool for automatic interpretation of chest X-rays. It can detect more than 35 conditions such as tuberculosis, lung cancer, pneumonia, and heart failure in less than a minute.
CT services: AI tools that analyze CT scans to help diagnose lung diseases and COVID-19-related lung infections.
AI copilot for healthcare providers: A new tool that uses language models to record doctor-patient conversations and generate helpful summaries, making clinical workflows faster.
These tools assist clinicians by providing accurate second opinions and reducing the workload of busy radiologists.
Impact on Healthcare Worldwide
By 2025, Qure.ai’s technology was deployed in over 4,500 hospitals across 100 countries, including 500 hospitals in India alone. This wide reach means millions of patients receive faster, more accurate diagnoses, which can save lives and reduce treatment costs.
Qure.ai’s tools have earned 18 FDA approvals, the highest for lung cancer AI tools in the US, reflecting their safety and reliability. The platform is used not only in hospitals but also in mobile clinics and rural healthcare centers where access to specialists is limited.
One important example is tuberculosis (TB) screening. TB is a major health issue in many low-income countries, and early diagnosis is vital to controlling the disease. Qure.ai’s AI system supports large screening campaigns, identifying TB cases more quickly and accurately, even before symptoms appear.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Qure.ai’s success is partly due to strong collaborations with global health leaders such as GE Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson MedTech. These partnerships help Qure.ai expand its technology to more healthcare providers and maintain high standards of quality and reliability.
Qure.ai also works closely with governments and health organizations to ensure their AI tools fit into local healthcare systems and meet diverse needs. Their AI can work both online and offline, which is crucial for areas with poor internet connectivity.
Social Impact: Bridging Gaps in Healthcare
What makes Qure.ai’s work truly remarkable is its commitment to healthcare equity. Many patients in rural or underdeveloped areas cannot access timely medical care because of a shortage of specialists. Qure.ai’s AI-powered diagnostic tools help bridge this gap by allowing non-experts to screen patients effectively.
The company's technology supports frontline health workers and primary care providers to make better decisions, improving treatment outcomes and reducing the burden on hospitals. This empowerment of local healthcare staff is a key step in strengthening health systems worldwide.
Furthermore, automating parts of the diagnostic process saves time and resources, enabling healthcare workers to focus on patient care rather than paperwork and repetitive tasks.
Awards and Recognition
The Top Innovator award at the Economic Times Startup Awards 2025 is a prestigious honor acknowledging Qure.ai's innovation and wide ecosystem impact. The award jury highlighted Qure.ai’s ability to address urgent healthcare problems with technology that is both effective and scalable.
Qure.ai has also been recognized by TIME magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Companies of 2025, highlighting its global influence in digital health innovation.
Challenges and Future Plans
Despite its success, Qure.ai faces challenges common to AI startups in healthcare. Integrating AI solutions smoothly into existing medical workflows requires overcoming fragmented health systems and limited digital infrastructure, especially in rural areas.
There is also the need to build trust among healthcare professionals who may be wary of adopting AI technology. To address this, Qure.ai provides education and transparent evidence of its tools’ accuracy and benefits.
Looking ahead, Qure.ai is developing even more advanced AI tools, including conversational AI for doctors and expanded diagnostic capabilities for different diseases.
The company’s vision remains to make high-quality healthcare accessible, affordable, and timely for everyone, everywhere.
Conclusion
Qure.ai’s journey from a Mumbai startup to a global healthtech leader demonstrates the power of AI to transform healthcare. By combining cutting-edge technology with a strong focus on social impact, Qure.ai is making life-saving diagnostics available to millions who need it most.
Winning the Top Innovator award in 2025 reflects not only technical excellence but also a deep commitment to solving real-world problems. Qure.ai’s success shows how innovation can drive equity in healthcare, enabling a healthier future for all.