Wellthy Therapeutics Pvt. Ltd, a digital therapeutic company specialises in chronic disease management, has raised Rs 30.33 crore (approximately $3.97 million at current exchange rates) in its pre-Series A funding round from early-stage venture capital firm Saama Capital.
The Mumbai-based company has issued ten equity shares and 9.39 lakh pre-Series A compulsorily convertible preference shares at a premium of Rs 312.67 per share, according to regulatory filings.
Wellthy was founded in 2015 by Abhishek Shah, Prayat Shah and Aradh Pillai. It offers a mobile platform and application that prescribes a diabetes control programme for its users through a series of interventions that include a personalised nutrition plan and a dedicated health coach.
Diabetics can also monitor their blood sugar levels through the app and use it to get customised data-driven consultations from a doctor.
The fundraise from Saama Capital comes after Indian multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Cipla Ltd in February last year agreed to acquire a 11.71 % stake in Wellthy for Rs 10.5 crore (around $1.5 million).
As part of the agreement, the two companies said they would offer a combination of pharmacotherapy and digital therapeutics for improved patient outcomes in the chronic diabetology and cardiology segments.
In December 2017, VCCircle reported that the startup had raised an undisclosed sum from early-stage investor GrowX Ventures. Then, in 2018, Wellthy raised Rs 13.5 crore ($2.1 million) in a seed funding round led by the family office of Ranjan Pai, chairman of Manipal Education and Medical Group. Apoorva Patni-led Currae Healthtech Fund, Singapore-based Beenext Ventures and GrowX Ventures also participated in the seed funding round.
Saama Capital
The early-stage firm began in 2006 as part of SVB Capital Partners. It spun out as an independent firm in 2011 by Ash Lilani and Suresh Shanmugham. The VC firm’s maiden fund had a corpus of around $54 million.
In April 2018, it raised $100 million (around Rs 650 crore then) for its latest vehicle – Saama Capital IV Ltd – from a set of 59 investors, including large family offices and endowments based outside of India.
At the time, Lilani said the fund would continue the firm’s focus on early-stage investments. Saama’s initial cheques to a portfolio firm are usually within the range of $1-$3 million. Startups it has funded include SKS Microfinance, Veeba, Paytm and Bluestone.
