mDhil was founded in 2009 as a social enterprise to create and distribute accurate health information for Indian mobile users. Our first services were SMS subscriptions sold via mobile carrier partners including Airtel, Idea Cellular, and Tata Docomo. mDhil expanded into syndicated web content and powered the Health & Wellness sections for Yahoo, MSN, and other portals across India, S.E. Asia, and the Middle East.
By 2012 mDhil was extensively focused on video services to disseminate information about birth control, women’s health, diabetes management, yoga exercise, and other relevant health topics. The company was an early adopter of the YouTube creator platform in India, building a studio and library of over 1,800 videos across a network of 12 YouTube channels. By mid-2015, mDhil reached an average of 3 million video viewers a month on our website, YouTube channels, and mobile partners.
The mDhil team was fortunate to earn distinct honors and was asked to present our social impact work at global conferences like SXSW, TED, YouTube FanFest India, Health 2.0 San Francisco, and SOCAP. A company highlight included the Google Innovation Karnataka award in March 2013 with an accompanying article by Eric Schmidt in the Times of India.
Over the 7 years of mDhil’s operations, the company raised less than $2M of venture funding - the business was grown via operational cash flow and spartan management of company capital. In late 2015 the company’s lead investor decided to sell the business - shortly thereafter, the entire team elected to pursue new career opportunities.