Medtech distribution platform Genworks Health Pvt Ltd on Wednesday said it has raised Rs 135 crore ($17.6 million) in fresh funding from Somerset Indus Capital Partners, Morgan Stanley, through its funding arm Grand Vista, Evolvence and Wipro GE.
The company will use the fresh capital for acquisitions, expansion in in-vitro diagnostics field and to meet working capital needs, said Genworks in a statement.
Genworks Health was seeded by US conglomerate GE Healthcare, with which its founder S Ganesh Prasad was associated for 18 years.
At GE Healthcare, Prasad was heading the ultrasound division and he had played a key role in driving the American company’s game plan to expand to rural India.
"We started with 160 people in 30 locations with GE as the primary technology partner. Today, we have a strategy to solve care cycle needs in every area as a part of our endeavour to support affordable access through over 500 people in over 130 locations," said Prasad in the latest statement.
Ramesh Kannan, Partner, Somerset Indus Capital Partners, said that the company also aims grow overseas through mergers and acquisitions.
Genworks Health was one of the first investments from Somerset Indus Capital Partners' second fund in 2019.
The company roped in new investors Morgan Stanley and Evolvence the following year.
In 2020, VCCircle reported that Genworks acquired Iris Healthcare Technologies Pvt Ltd’s in-vitro unit on a slump sale basis.
In July last year, Genworks also raised $2 million in debt funding from Blacksoil Capital.
The broader healthtech space has received tailwinds from the coronavirus pandemic, encouraging investors to bet on startups.
The healthtech segment is expected to grow at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 39% to touch $5 billion by 2023, according to a report released last year by transaction advisory firm RBSA Advisors that cited research done by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Praxis Global Alliance.