MediGence: How Amit Bansal is Building a Profitable Global Medical Travel Network Without External Funding
In an era where "HealthTech" often means burning millions in VC cash to acquire users, Amit Bansal, Founder and CEO of MediGence, is proving that sustainability and profitability are the ultimate metrics of success. By building a global marketplace that facilitates searching, booking, and arranging medical travel across 25 countries, Amit has created a network of 400+ hospitals without taking a single dollar of external investment. In a market often plagued by opaque agents and hidden fees, MediGence is using technology to restore trust and transparency to the multi-billion dollar medical travel industry.
Amit Bansal’s journey is a story of professional mastery meeting entrepreneurial grit. With over 20 years of experience in product companies—spanning roles from developer to head of sales—Amit saw firsthand how poorly technology was being deployed in global healthcare. In 2016, alongside co-founders Vinay Bansal and Vijender Thapiyal, he launched MediGence. After a grueling two-year "lean phase" where the company generated negligible revenue, Amit orchestrated a turnaround that has made the startup a profitable leader in medical assistance, recently introducing ESOPs to share that success with his team.
The 2-Year Revenue Wait
Between 2016 and 2018, MediGence faced a crisis. Relying on third-party agencies to build their product resulted in wasted time, money, and a lack of ownership. Amit recounts this as his biggest learning: "Never outsource your core expertise." By moving critical tech and operations in-house, they finally launched a viable product in March 2018 and have been profitable ever since.
The Problem: The "Agent-Driven" Opaque Industry
Medical travel is a multi-billion dollar industry, yet it is notoriously offline and fragmented. For patients in the US facing high costs, or those in the UK facing long waitlists, finding a reliable doctor abroad meant dealing with unvetted travel agents or individual "facilitators" who lacked transparency. The industry was driven by margins rather than patient outcomes, often resulting in poor medical experiences for vulnerable people.
"Everyone had become an agent—from students to travel facilitators," Amit explains. "There was zero transparency. We realized that if we could build an engine that provided true, verified information and helped patients take the right decision based on outcomes rather than just commissions, we would have a mission-critical business."
The Solution: A Transparent Global Marketplace
MediGence acts as a full-service bridge between international patients and world-class healthcare providers. Their platform provides end-to-end assistance—from second opinions via telemedicine to travel arrangements and post-operative care.
The MediGence Patient Journey
- Global Search: Patients search a verified network of 400+ hospitals across 25 countries (US, India, Thailand, Turkey, etc.).
- Teleconsultation: Video consultations with senior doctors from over 10 countries to confirm diagnosis and treatment plans.
- Outcome-Based Advice: MediGence recommends the best destination based on the specific ailment, even if it means lower margins for the firm.
- Logistics Fulfillment: Arranging travel, accommodation, and hospital admission within a budget-friendly framework.
- Data Privacy: Upholding international standards like HIPAA and GDPR to ensure medical data accessibility and security.
Resilience in Action: Surviving the Lockdown
In March 2020, as international borders closed, the medical travel industry came to a standstill. For a bootstrapped company with 16 employees and high fixed costs, the situation was dire. However, Amit used the "lean phase" to pivot. They focused on their telemedicine product, building a scalable platform that allowed patients to connect with doctors digitally when they couldn't travel physically. This agility allowed them to pay salaries on time and emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever.
"Entrepreneurship is never part-time," Amit notes. "You have to stay strong when things are out of your control. We didn't seek funding; we focused on building products that the market needed at that moment. Today, 70% of my team has been with me for more than three years because they believe in the vision."
MediGence Scale & Reach
- 400+ Hospitals: A deep network of verified healthcare providers globally.
- 25 Countries: Facilitating medical travel across multiple continents and budgets.
- 100% Bootstrapped: Achieving profitability and growth without external VC funding.
- 30% Cost Savings: Helping consumers save on total travel costs through direct negotiation and benefit packages.
Lessons in Leadership: Avoiding Micromanagement
Amit believes that a founder's role is to be a mentor and strategist, not a taskmaster. He emphasizes giving team members a sense of "belonging" and ownership. For him, the moment a founder starts "poking into every screen," they lose the trust of their people. By hiring for ownership and empowering his managers to lead their departments, he has built a resilient team of 25 professionals who think and act like entrepreneurs themselves.
"It's about building a team that works toward one direction," he reflects. "As an entrepreneur, you have to make people believe in your ability and then make them think the way you think. When the team wins, we all win."
Founder's Lesson: Keep Core Functions In-House
Amit strongly advises against over-reliance on external parties. "Irrespective of your industry, your core expertise must lie within your core team. Use external resources to complement your skills, but never let them hold the keys to your product."
The Future: Empowering Global Health Decisions
Amit’s vision for MediGence is to become the global standard for patient-centric medical assistance. By continuing to build tools that democratize access to world-class doctors and transparent pricing, he aims to ensure that no one is left stranded in their hour of need. For Amit, the ultimate validation isn't a funding round, but the sight of a patient finally receiving life-saving care that they previously thought was out of reach.
MediGence is proving that the next generation of global HealthTech giants can be built from the ground up, one patient at a time. By prioritizing integrity over margins and technology over tradition, Amit Bansal and his team are ensuring that for the global patient, the road to recovery is finally clear, transparent, and affordable.
About the Guest
Amit Bansal is the Founder and CEO of MediGence. An industry veteran with over 20 years of experience in product development and strategy across India and Australia, Amit is a pioneer in the medical assistance landscape. Under his leadership, MediGence has emerged as a premier global marketplace for medical travel, recognized for its commitment to patient advocacy and technological innovation. He is a recognized thought leader in health-tech and a vocal advocate for bootstrapping sustainable social enterprises.
MediGence is a health-tech platform that provides a global marketplace for medical travel and teleconsultation. By connecting patients with a verified network of 400+ hospitals across 25 countries and offering tools for second opinions and travel arrangement, the company helps individuals worldwide access the best possible medical care within their budget and needs.