Voxelgrids Innovations has deployed its first indigenously developed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner for clinical use at the Chandrapur Cancer Care Foundation hospital in Maharashtra, marking a key manufacturing milestone for India’s domestic medical devices sector. The installation represents the transition of the MRI system from prototype development to routine patient care.
Voxelgrids received its manufacturing and commercialisation licence from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization in June 2023, enabling it to sell MRI systems to hospitals in India. The Chandrapur installation is the first unit to enter clinical service following this regulatory approval.
The clinical deployment was was carried out on behalf of Tata Trusts. The installation at Chandrapur, a Tier-2 city, is positioned as a reference site for the company’s manufacturing-led approach to expanding access to advanced diagnostic imaging beyond major urban centres.
The scanner installed at the facility is a 1.5 Tesla MRI system, a standard configuration for clinical imaging, including oncology diagnostics. Unlike most imported MRI systems, which rely heavily on liquid helium for magnet cooling, the Voxelgrids scanner has been engineered with a reduced dependence on helium. This design choice addresses cost, logistics, and maintenance challenges that affect the deployment of MRI systems in smaller cities and regional hospitals.
The MRI system has also been designed to be lighter and more compact than many imported alternatives, simplifying transportation and installation requirements. The reduced weight and infrastructure demands are intended to enable installations in facilities with limited structural capacity, supporting wider geographic deployment.
Manufacturing of the MRI systems is carried out at Voxelgrids’ facility in the Peenya Industrial Area of Bengaluru. The company designs and manufactures several critical subsystems in-house, including the superconducting magnet, cryogenic cooling architecture, gradient coils, radiofrequency components, and the software used for image acquisition and reconstruction. This vertically integrated manufacturing model reduces reliance on imported core components and allows greater control over system configuration, servicing, and lifecycle costs.
Voxelgrids has received a combination of philanthropic and private capital to support the development and scaling of its MRI manufacturing programme. Tata Trusts, through its innovation and incubation platforms including Social Alpha, provided early-stage funding and support to enable prototype development and clinical validation of the indigenous MRI system. In 2021, Zoho Corp. invested USD 5 million in Voxelgrids to support the transition from development to manufacturing scale-up, including capacity expansion, regulatory readiness, and preparation for commercial deployments. The investments were directed toward building in-house manufacturing capabilities for critical MRI subsystems and advancing the company’s move from pilot production to low-volume commercial manufacturing.
“We congratulate Voxelgrids on their first successful clinical installation, marking a step forward for indigenous medical tech in India. Zoho’s investment in Voxelgrids underscores our commitment to nurturing deep-tech innovation for mission-critical sectors,” said Shailesh Kumar Davey, Chief Executive Officer of Zoho Corp.
Voxelgrids was founded in 2017 by Arjun Arunachalam, an electrical engineer and former Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, who previously worked on MRI technologies at GE Global Research in the United States. Arunachalam returned to India to develop an affordable, domestically manufactured MRI system tailored to local infrastructure constraints.