Digital healthcare start-up Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd has raised $55 million in a Series-D funding round led by China’s Tencent, with participation from new investors ru-Net, RSI Fund, owned by Recruit Holdings and Thrive Capital.
Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, Google Capital, Sofina and Altimeter Capital also participated in the round, said Co-Founder and Chief Executive Shashank N.D.
Practo last raised $90 million from a clutch of investors in August 2015. The company has so far raised about $179 million since inception in 2008, making it by far the most well funded homegrown healthcare start-up.
Practo, which operates in India, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil, will also enter the health insurance segment through partnerships with existing businesses.
“Practo is a neutral stakeholder and want to focus on that. We will partner with all existing health insurance providers. We will stay an aggregator and make sure that their work can be amplified,” said Shashank.
Practo earns revenue by selling a practice management and appointment scheduling software for doctors and clinics, as well as a hospital information management solution, all on a software as a service model, apart from a sponsored listing service for hospitals and clinics.
The company was started in 2008 by Shashank and Abhinav Lal as a practice management software service provider for doctors and launched a consumer facing doctor discovery platform in 2013.
According to Shashank, Practo booked about 45 million appointments in 2016 and five million patient records were shared on its app last year.
Practo has been among the most active buyers among large Indian start-ups. It has so far acquired business analytics service provider Enlightiks, appointment booking platform Qikwell, hospital information management service provider Insta Health Solutions, apart from FitHo, a fitness management platform and product outsourcing firm Genii.
Its acquisitions, especially Qikwell and Insta, have not only helped the company enter the enterprise segment—hospitals and clinics—but also opened additional revenue streams for the company.
Source: Mint
