“We think patients are getting not only a bad experience, but insurers are getting a bad economic deal. And as a result, we decided to fix it by building our own hospitals,” Banerjee told TechCrunch.
Even has since opened two hospitals in Bengaluru, both of which reached operational profitability, excluding depreciation, within a year of opening, Banerjee stated. The startup plans to open five more hospitals in the southern Indian city over the next six months, funded by its latest round.
Banerjee told TechCrunch that Even leases hospital buildings on 20-year agreements and spends on fitting them out and buying medical equipment.
Unlike hospitals where doctors may have financial incentives to recommend more procedures, Even pays its doctors fixed salaries — not tying their compensation to the number of tests or surgeries they perform, though Banerjee said doctors can earn bonuses based on patient-reported clinical outcomes.
The same principle extends to hospital management, whose compensation is not linked to the number of procedures performed, Banerjee told TechCrunch. Managers, he said, receive salaries and company-wide incentives, while marketing teams focus on bringing in patients instead of the revenue those patients generate. Moreover, every employee, including doctors and other hospital staff, receives equity in Even. The idea is to give employees a stake in the startup’s long-term performance, not to reward them for generating more medical bills.
Most of Even’s revenue comes from patients paying for treatment, Banerjee said. The startup also generates revenue through its relationships with insurers. It is also working with insurer partners on a model that could compensate it for hospitalizations it helps prevent, not simply for providing more treatment.
Banerjee told TechCrunch that Even tracks how patients recover after treatment using established medical scoring systems. In the case of knee replacements, for instance, it uses the Oxford Knee Score to measure pain and mobility. The startup publishes results on its website, alongside figures from other healthcare systems for comparison.
Even says its hospitals have an unplanned readmission rate of less than 1%, compared with an industry benchmark of 8% to 15%. Furthermore, it claims patients spend 40% less time in the hospital and that its approach has saved insurers more than ₹500 million (about $5.27 million).
Jai Sajnani, a partner at Khosla Ventures, told TechCrunch that the early performance of Even’s hospitals was a key reason the firm led the round. “We look forward to helping the Even team put quality care within reach of every family in Bengaluru and across India,” he said.
Even is still losing money, though. The startup posted a net loss of ₹902 million (about $9.50 million) in fiscal 2025, nearly 25% more than the previous year, on revenue of ₹272 million (about $2.86 million), regulatory filings show.
In August, Even also laid off about 350 employees, according to Indian startup-news website Entrackr. Banerjee acknowledged the restructuring and called it a difficult decision. He said the affected employees received severance, extended health insurance, and accelerated equity vesting.
Even currently employs about 650 people, including around 300 doctors full-time. The startup has about 250,000 members and has recorded more than 750,000 patient interactions since its launch in 2021, including consultations, diagnostic tests, and surgeries, Banerjee said.
Banerjee told TechCrunch that Even could turn profitable within months if it stopped spending on expansion, but the startup is choosing to grow instead. He declined to say when the startup expects to become profitable.
“Right now, we’re investing in growth and serving more patients,” Banerjee said.
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