- Navana.ai, a voice AI startup, raised Rs 7 crore in a pre-Series A round led by Antler India, Ajay Agarwal, Ronnie Screwvala, and Sandeep Singhal, bringing total funding to Rs 13.2 crore.
- Founded in 2018 by Raoul and Jai Nanavati, the company offers voice AI contact centre, speech recognition API, and contact centre intelligence API, serving over 40 clients in 12+ Indian languages.
- The funds will support R&D for India-centric voice AI technology and scaling products, with clients like Bajaj Finserv leveraging its BFSI-focused voice bots.
Volgograd State Medical University in Russia has formed a strategic alliance with Medanta The Medicity, one of India's leading multispecialty hospitals, to develop improved clinical training programs for its students. Students from Volgograd will now have the chance to learn through clinical observerships and hands-on training programs at Medanta's advanced facilities under a recent memorandum of understanding signed by the two institutions. The program is meant to enhance the curriculum of the university by exposing students to varied medical cases and sophisticated systems of healthcare delivery.
Under the partnership, students at Volgograd State Medical University will have the opportunity to observe Indian medical practitioners in different departments including internal medicine, surgery, cardiology, neurology, and emergency medicine. They will attend rounds, case presentations, patient consultations, and some procedures under the guidance of senior clinicians. This organized clinical exposure is intended to underpin theoretical learning with practical application in high-volume hospital environments. It guarantees to strengthen students' diagnostic skills, procedural competencies, and intercultural doctor-patient communication skills abilities critical in international healthcare environments.
Medanta, with its sophisticated infrastructure and extensive range of specialty services, also gains through such association by expanding its international educational outreach. Students will visit and be incorporated into existing training modules, and possibly develop international academic networks. Such bilateral interaction enriches the learning environment by facilitating faculty from both institutions to share insights into clinical best practices, educational pedagogy, and healthcare management.
Institutional leaders on both sides described a common vision for raising the standard of medical education through international collaboration. The step also indicates Medanta's desire to engage more actively within global academic communities and to project its reputation in medical education across borders. For Volgograd students, the agreement represents an unusual chance to train in a high-speed, resource-consuming environment, introducing them to medical technology and patient populations that may be unknown within their home environment.
Logistically, the scheme features formalized routes with defined eligibility, timelines, and duration of observerships. Candidates are responsible for travel, visas, and accommodation, while Medanta and Volgograd State Medical University will arrange placements, orientation, and support on site. Application procedures, selection timescales, and training timetables are likely to be announced through formal means in due course.
In total, this partnership represents an important milestone toward globalizing medical education, providing a promising platform for students to acquire global competence, clinical confidence, and cross-border professional networks.