LoveCycles, a start-up which enables women to keep a track of their menstrual and physiological health via a mobile app, has raised Rs.5 crore from seed-stage venture capital firm Prime Venture Partners.

The funding round also marks the official unveiling of the app in India.

The firm will use the money to expand its presence in the country and provide regional language support. It has already launched the Hindi language support for the tracker.

“The funding comes at a crucial time,” said John Paul, Chief Executive of LoveCycles, who founded the firm in 2012. An engineer, Paul said that women’s health has been a much-neglected issue, particularly menstrual health that is still a taboo in various parts of the country. “We want to empower women with information and technology,” he said.

LoveCycles said it logs over 1.2 million active users every month.

The start-up offers the app on Apple’s mobile operating system iOS, Google’s Android platform and Microsoft’s Windows platform. The firm said it has clocked over six million downloads across 190 countries.

It is seeing highest downloads coming from geographies such as United States, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, South Korea and Russia. The app, which supports 13 languages globally, is backed by a powerful algorithm that can predict moods and symptoms based on the progress of the menstrual cycle.

“With smartphone and mobile Internet growing, we’re delighted to help bring this value to Indian women,” said Amit Somani, Managing Partner at Prime Venture Partners. “We are excited about the possibilities it can create in helping women and girls in India.”

Experts say that menstrual hygiene is one of the most important yet neglected health issues in the developing world. In India, approximately 70 per cent of all reproductive diseases are caused by poor menstrual hygiene. There are 355 million women in there productive age in India who need mechanisms and structures in place to meet their menstrual needs.

Source: The Hindu

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