Delhi-based eye specialty hospital chain Eye-Q has received an undisclosed sum in series B funding from Helion Venture Partners and Nexus Venture Partners, the company has said in a statement today. o3 Capital was the sole financial advisor to this transaction.
Set up by leading ophthalmologist Dr Ajay Sharma and former Bausch & Lomb honcho Rajat Goel, Eye-Q is a 16-centre super-specialty hospital with presence in Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Gujarat. All Eye-Q centres provide state-of-the-art eye care within affordable range for tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The proceeds from the current round of fundraising will be utilised to add incremental centres to the current network and set up operations pan-India, the statement adds.
In May 2010, the company had raised series A funding from SONG Investment Advisors – a fund owned and managed by the Soros Economic Development Fund, Omidyar Network and Google.
“With Eye-Q now poised for unprecedented growth, we would like to see those benefits extend to people in various parts of India,” Sanjeev Agarwal of Helion Venture Partners commented on the investment.
“We are delighted to partner with the Eye-Q team to take this journey forward and bring in the benefits of best eye care across the country,” said Anup Gupta of Nexus Venture Partners.
Current statistics reveal that around 10 per cent of the Indian population suffers from some form of visual impairment, which means more than 12 crore Indians need specialised treatment.
Healthcare delivery has been considered a growth area as the space has been mostly occupied by small hospitals, barring one or two large hospital chains like Apollo Hospitals, Max Healthcare and Fortis Healthcare. Private equity firms have been looking at this space since 2005 when Warburg Pincus invested in Max Healthcare. In the past five years, there had been around 30 deals in healthcare delivery alone and around $650 million (disclosed value) have been invested by PE firms in this space.
In September this year, Medfort Hospitals, a healthcare provider specialising in eye care and diabetes treatment, announced its merger with Hyderabad-based eye care chain Maxivision Eye Hospital. The merger resulted into a 12-facility eye hospital network, with presence in cities like Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Vizag and Vijayawada.
Medfort had attracted an investment of Rs 60 crore from TVS Capital Funds and ePlanet Ventures. While TVS Capital and Shriram Group had invested nearly Rs 50 crore for a significant minority stake, the remaining fund came from ePlanet Ventures.
