"It’s unfortunate how most people accept hair loss and balding as an inevitability. We want to make sure that people know that hair loss is manageable. Especially if treated in a timely manner,” said Saloni.

“We are not a product company selling yet another shampoo, we work with our customers closely to get their hair health sorted for long-term effective results,” Saloni added.

Traya Founders (L-R): Altaf Saiyed and Saloni Anand

Mumbai startup Tatva Health takes the best of three sciences for customised haircare solutions

Founded by Saloni Anand, a techie-turned-marketeer, and Altaf Saiyed, a Stanford Business School alumni, Traya helps millennials get doctor prescribed and customised hair loss solutions at the tap of a finger. The startup has developed a combination of three sciences — Ayurveda, allopathy, and nutrition — to create a comprehensive treatment plan for hair loss conditions.

Traya's treatment plans vary for each type of hair loss, depending on the stage, age, gender and other factors. Of the 25,000 people who shared their health data, including head shots, in the last three months with Traya, 90 percent are in the age bracket of 25-35 years, the startup said.

The company claims that it has observed 50 percent growth month-on-month since March. It plans to focus on hair loss this year and then venture to other lifestyle problems that millennials grapple with. The startup believes its approach of mixing science with an infrastructure of adherence can help the youth manage health problems they otherwise cannot.

"As investors across various D2C and healthcare companies, we find Traya a very exciting company deep-rooted in medicine and at the same time, contemporary and consumer-centric in solving real and serious healthcare problems starting with a large category like hair fall,” added Anshu Prasher, General Partner at Whiteboard Capital.

Gaurav Chaturvedi, Partner at Kae Capital, felt that Traya’s offering of doctor-backed, personalised products based on a combination of sciences along with tech-enabled customer service is the right way to solve the hair loss problem.

Edited by Kanishk Singh

Sujata Sangwan