MediBuddy on Wednesday said it has acquired online doctor consultation startup Clinix, in the healthcare platform's first acquisition after racking up $125 million in a fresh funding round earlier this year.
The acquisition will help MediBuddy penetrate into the domestic rural market, it said in a statement without disclosing the deal value.
Clinix, operated by PBD Solutions Pvt. Ltd, was co-founded by former MediBuddy employee, Aravind Dhulipala in 2020. The other co-founders of Clinix are Prabhakar Chowdhary and Sachin Pippiri, according to its website. The Hyderabad-based startup has presence across 20 tier-III and IV cities in the country. It sets up kiosks in localities and trains locals to book procedures for online doctor consultations.
"Clinix has a wide presence in the rural areas and with our network and infra-tech support, we aim to further expand our reach and services and achieve our goal of covering a large section of the population, who have limited access to quality healthcare solutions," said Satish Kannan, co-founder and chief executive officer at MediBuddy.
Dhulipala, co-founder and CEO of Clinix, noted that MediBuddy's advanced technology and extensive network will help in taking healhtcare services deeper into the remote regions of the country.
MediBuddy’s technology platform provides users with all-day access to specialist doctors via video calls, doorstep medicine delivery, at-home lab tests, mental health support, and other integrated healthcare services.
MediBuddy was formed after the merger between DocsApp and Bengaluru-based digital consumer health business of MediBuddy in 2020. DocsApp was founded in 2015 by Kannan and Enbasekar Dinadayalane, both IIT Madras alumni. In 2019, DocsApp made its first acquisition by buying DocWise, a doctor-patient engagement platform.
The merged firm had also received $20 million (Rs 150 crore) as part of its Series B round of funding then. Later in February 2021, MediBuddy raised an additional $20 million from healthcare-focused private equity firm InvAscent as part of its Series B round. Earlier this year, it bagged $125 million in a Series C funding co-led by Quadria Capital and Lightrock India.
MediBuddy has a partner network of over 90,000 doctors, 7000 hospitals, 3000 diagnostic centers, and 2500 pharmacies, the statement said. It has a team strength of 1800.
In another deal in the space earlier this week, digital healthcare platform Mfine said it will merge with the diagnostics business of LifeCell International Pvt. Ltd. The merged entity - LifeWell - has secured $80 million from healthcare-focused global investment firm OrbiMed.
Notably, M&A deal value in the healthcare and pharmaceutical space hit a record high in January-June this year, crossing the total deal value of $3.35 billion achieved in the whole of 2021, according to a VCCircle analysis.