Diabetic retinopathy continues to be one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in India, and access to timely retinal screening remains the single biggest barrier standing between patients and early diagnosis.
Artelus has been recognized as the winner of the Roche Drishti Healthtech Challenge, an initiative by Roche in collaboration with Startup India and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). This recognition reflects the real-world impact our AI-powered retinal screening technology is already creating on the ground.
This isn't a recognition of potential. It's a recognition of reach.
Key Highlights
Why This Challenge — and This Win — Matters
The Roche Drishti Healthtech Challenge was not built to reward novelty. It was designed to identify healthtech solutions capable of solving India's growing burden of diabetic retinopathy at scale.
Out of more than 80 startup applications, Artelus was selected because our technology answers the one question that determines whether innovation truly matters in healthcare:
Does it reach the patient?
India already has clinicians who can treat retinal disease. It already has medicines that work. What has been missing is a scalable way to get patients screened early enough for those treatments and interventions to make a difference.
That is the exact gap Artelus' AI-powered, portable diagnostic technology is built to close.
The Real Impact Behind the Award
This recognition is built upon measurable, on-ground impact:
These numbers are the reason this win matters. They represent diagnoses that would likely not have happened in time without this technology reaching the people who needed it.
Solving Accessibility, Not Just Diagnostics
At the core of our work is a simple principle:
Healthcare technology should not require a patient to travel to find it. It should travel to the patient.
Through DRISTi AI, portable fundus imaging, and advanced OCT solutions, Artelus brings retinal screening directly into outreach camps, clinics, and telemedicine settings, removing the dependency on specialist availability that has historically limited screening coverage.
This is what makes the Drishti Healthtech Challenge recognition significant. It validates that AI and portable diagnostics, when deployed correctly, can directly expand the number of people who get screened, not just improve diagnostic accuracy for those who already have access to care.
What This Recognition Signals
Being named the winner of the Roche Drishti Healthtech Challenge, alongside our recognition among the Top 10 Indian DeepTech Startup Patent Filers, signals that Artelus' approach to AI-powered healthcare is being acknowledged at the intersection of innovation and accessibility.
Artelus is also honored to be recognized among the Top 10 Indian DeepTech Startup Patent Filers, reflecting our commitment to developing AI-powered healthcare technologies that make quality diagnostics more accessible, affordable, and impactful.
For Artelus, the takeaway is clear:
The technology is working. It is reaching the people it was built for. And the path to preventing avoidable blindness at scale is measurably closer than it was before.
Looking Ahead
This award is not a finish line. It is confirmation that the approach is right and a mandate to scale it further.
Artelus remains focused on extending AI-powered retinal screening deeper into remote and underserved regions, continuing to close the gap between available treatment and timely diagnosis for the forgotten billions.
Together with healthcare professionals, partners, and communities, we will continue building a future where quality eye care is accessible to everyone, everywhere.
We are grateful to Roche, Startup India, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the Embassy of Switzerland in India and Bhutan, and all our partners who share our belief that innovation creates value only when it reaches the last mile. Their support strengthens our resolve to bring AI-powered retinal screening and quality diagnostics to the people who need them most.
Interested in Partnering With Us?
Interested in partnering with Artelus or learning more about our AI-powered healthcare solutions?
Get in touch with us at contact@artelus.com.
Artelus – AI for diagnostics. AI for healthcare. AI for the forgotten billions.
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