Rohit and Monica Mishra left corporate jobs to build EarCart, a $1,300 portable device that diagnoses and programs hearing aids remotely. Only 4% of India's 1.5 billion hearing-impaired people get aids. They've piloted in 31 centers and aim for 5,000 sites by 2028.
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Welcome everybody to Meet the Drapers India. We are in the semifinals. We have been all over India to find you these extraordinary entrepreneurs. These 4 will compete for 2 slots in the finale, and the other 2 you could vote in. So go to meetthedrapers.com and vote. Some extraordinary judges. To my far left is Polly Draper, actress, producer, writer, director, winner of a Director's Award.
Thanks, Tim.
She's a character in Hacks, a mystic. And it's kind of fun to have a mystic and a crystal ball in the same place. So on my left, we have Poonam Khandelwal. She's laughing. However you pronounce it.
Hey, I nailed it.
It sounds beautiful. Poonam Khandelwal, venture capitalist, has done like 300 startups.
I've been investing in startups myself for almost 8 years now. It's exciting to meet startups from across the country. Thank you for coming to India.
The entrepreneurs are from all over India, but we have actually visited 6 cities. We still have a little more of India to cover because I do know this is a big— it is a big country. And to my right is Mohan Lakshmaraju. Mohan and I worked together at CFJ many, many years ago. We together created the first business plan competition in India ever. So Mohan Lakshmaraju Draper, welcome to Meet the Drapers.
Thank you. It's a good family to be part of.
Thank you. Normally it happens after marriage. I don't know what you're suggesting, Tim.
Well, let's bring on our first entrepreneur. But before we do, let's see what's going on behind the scenes.
Hi, my name is Rohit Mishra. I'm founder at Earcart.
Hi, I'm Monica Mishra. I'm co-founder at Earcart.
She had one of the best cosmetology practices up north in Delhi, a very, very evolved one. But she gave up that and she said, why don't we start on this journey together? Because 2 is a better team than one. And actually it came true.
And I think it was the right decision for me.
Startup is not an easy journey and for a faint-hearted one. A lot of my friends, a lot of my colleagues, a lot of well-wishers also said it's a very stupid decision. If these big companies have not been able to do it, why are you even going in that direction?
It was like, it's a time for you to retire and you are entering the entrepreneur world.
What was more frustrating that I was the managing director of a multinational world's top 5 companies. Being there in 15 years, we did not do significant things. We kept eating market share from one another. And nobody started working on reaching out to the people who need service. We thought this will be not only a service, but also become into an expandable business model globally. Numbers have outlived my expectation. They have outperformed my expectations. And I think together we have created a model which has now become self-sustained on its own. So if I look back, I'm so relieved. I'm so comforted. From the time that I was anxious and nervous.
So if you did win today, who's your first call?
Like, who do you share your victories with? Mom, dad, kids, parents, and of course my team because they have really, really, really worked hard across these three years.
Working with Tim, I think this has come as an opportunity at the right time.
I think with his insightful. Information's coming for US. Tim could be a great asset, not in terms only of finances, but in terms of showing us the right way to get into the US market. You always had this at the back of the mind that you did not get through to the next level. We land in Delhi at about 11:30. I open my phone after we land and I see a message from Henrik that, guys, you have been given a wildcard entry.
And wow! This is one you made?
That's right.
Okay, so should I try it?
Absolutely.
This goes into your ear.
Go ahead, sir. I'm hearing the horns beep very loudly.
Yeah. This is $350, this is $20, and this is your audiologist right here sitting on the screen.
Oh, why, this is my test. We'll see how it goes. So there were some sounds I didn't really hear that well. Okay, well, that was fun.
Thank you very much for bringing us back, Draper. Wildcard, God bless you.
You got the Polly special.
Thank you, Polly. We are on a mission to help 1.5 billion people who are suffering from 2 problems. One, hearing loss. Second, lack of access to an audiologist. I've been in this industry for 20 years myself, and I've been a very frustrated frustrated onlooker, less than 4% of these people get to a hearing aid ever. 96% people don't. And I believe at EarCart, the world can wait for the next dating app. The world can definitely wait for the next super cool marketing app. These people need help, and that's where we come in. This machine is a solution to the shortage of audiologists.
Now, I mean, it's a very low-cost device.
$1,300 for this testing device.
This is the audiologist.
I think the game changer was the demo. When you are explaining verbally, it's a different thing. When you are able to see it, how easy, how convenient, how quick it is.
A test has to be run for every single hearing aid.
How can you make money if that's $20 and you've got somebody full-time, an audiologist full-time?
I keep this machine anywhere in the world. It doesn't have to be an audiologist. My audiologist could be sitting in the Draper's office here, and my machine could be in Nigeria, in Bangladesh, or in Kenya. It's a very simple, Solution to an extremely complicated problem.
With OMNI, this remote audiometry device, we are able to solve the problem of diagnostic. It can do the otoscopy, it can do live audiometry, it can do the programming of the hearing aids and the fitting of the hearing aids for the person who doesn't have access to walk up to an ENT. And accordingly, the audiologist suggests the hearing aid, and that hearing aid is then digitalized and fitted to the patient.
So it's an end-to-end solution right then and there.
So the customization happens from the device itself?
Yes, absolutely. I can remotely customize the hearing aid.
You don't customize it by an iPhone?
I can do that too, but for the first-time patient, I would rather do it myself for the best fitting.
And is this regulated? Do you need approvals from the regulatory authorities?
These are all regulated. These are CDSCO, these are BIS, these are FDA-approved ones.
So in every country you have to get regulatory approval?
All through this discussion, the only sense, the only emotion that I had was uncertainty.
Generally, US FDA FDA works for most.
So we have already tested this in more than 31 centers in 10 cities of India.
$1.3 is when I start to break even. If I sell a hearing aid, my recovery is $16.
And it is not over-the-counter sale of the hardware?
US, there is a new category called over-the-counter. In India, there is only hearing aid category. The OTC hasn't kicked in yet. Companies are making their annual report entry that we are not going to grow this year because of the shortage of the audiologists.
So your innovations is in the diagnostic device? Diagnostic device and the hearing aid also, which I can programmed through this diagnostic device. Can't other hearing aids that are there in the market right now be programmed?
If you, if you want to do that, it starts from $4,000.
You two have the same last name. I assume you're married?
Yes, we are.
Just about 28 years old.
So she works for you or you work for her?
I work for him.
That doesn't work in marriage.
Some people appreciate it because husband and wife have an understanding.
What happens when you want to take this thing and go to the US and she's saying, I don't know about that?
We've had this discussion multiple times.
already. So when I was going to US, she wanted to go to Bangladesh. So before I could go to US, we had to start Bangladesh. Now we have this presence in all these countries, but when we went to US, the gentleman says, why don't you license this technology to us? Because at $1.20, we are going to save about $600 million a year. I'm a businessman. I do have a heart. I developed this product for India and countries like India.
And for India, by 2028, it should be 5,000 places where this device will be available.
