At 79, Ashok Soota launches health and wellness venture

Happiest Health also formally launched its website on Thursday.

“We should go public in six or seven years,” Soota, also the chairman of mid-tier It firm

, told ET.

He said that the share capital approach is to put in his and family’s funds fully. Revenue will be derived from advertisements and events.

“I don’t want external capital coming in. We don’t want to cater to the needs of venture capitalists or private equity people,” he said. “A large portion of our stocks will be reserved for Esops and preferential issues,” he added.

At 79, this is Soota’s second commitment to the health and wellness space,
launching SKAN last year, a not-for-profit medical research trust focusing on aging and neurological disorders.

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Happiest Health will have research-driven medical content, driving the importance of kinder, gentler therapies. This will be created with the help of wellness and medical experts, scientific journals and in collaboration with global research institutes.

Among its team of 91, Happiest Health counts doctors, doctorate holders and former journalists as employees.

The platform aims to be recognized among the top two credible sources of knowledge on health and wellness globally, while driving thought leadership for integrated medicine.

The current players in the space are WebMD, and Mayo Clinic.

“Globally, healthcare knowledge is merely about repetitive factual information that may not necessarily answer concerns of a common person or provide in-depth, coherent understanding on complex health and wellness issues,” Soota said at the launch event.

Happiest Health will focus on breakthroughs and developments in related fields, tools for early diagnosis, user stories and comments.

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The platform will have articles and blogs from esteemed doctors, and a panel of wellness experts lending their voice to the knowledge base. It will collaborate with globally renowned medical research institutes for knowledge sharing.

While keeping abreast of all modern allopathic practices, it will also put the spotlight on therapies such as Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Yoga for wellness, to name a few.

Content will also be sourced from new research including studies from global institutes of excellence. The platform’s panel of doctors will cover multiple disciplines through guest essays, articles which offer unique perspectives and interesting medical experiences.

It will also cater to tier-II and III regions in India with regional written and video content, which the platform will launch in the next one year. It will also soon launch its own podcast, web series and audio content.

The primary knowledge platforms are a daily newsletter, an informative website, and a soon-to-be-launched monthly print magazine.