Mumbai-based Total Dental Care Pvt Ltd, which runs MyDentist brand of dental care chain, has raised Rs 50 crore ($9 million) in Series B funding. Healthcare-focused PE firm Asian Healthcare Fund led the round with Rs 40 crore while existing investor Seedfund Advisors put in Rs 10 crore more. Seedfund came in as the sole investor in Series A funding in 2011 after incubating the firm a year ago.
MyDentist will use the fresh capital to expand its presence in the western region of the country.
“Our first stage of growth focused on putting systems and processes in place and building up the core team,” MyDentist CEO Vikram Vora told VCCircle. “We are now ready for exponential growth and are planning to expand from 40 clinics to about 120-150 clinics in the next 18-20 months. We prefer being a regional player and we will stick to Mumbai and Pune besides expanding to two/three cities in the western region, such as Ahmedabad or Nasik,” he added.
The company will invest Rs 30-45 lakh for each centre, according to Vora.
MyDentist was started by Vora in 2009 and was incubated by Seedfund in 2010, before it got its first round of funding in 2011.
“Our second round of funding to MyDentist reiterates our belief in the idea and also the potential of the team behind it. In the past two years, MyDentist has developed its systems and processes, and have also managed to build an understanding of customer behaviour. We see high growth potential here and we are happy to be a part of the growth path,” said Pravin Gandhi, founding partner of Seedfund.
Commenting on the development, Ajay Vij, CEO of Asian Healthcare Fund, said, “We were impressed with MyDentist’s vision and positioning as a service addressing the rapidly growing and expanding middle class.”
According to Vora, Seedfund and Asian Healthcare together own close to a majority stake in the company. Also, going by its expansion plans, the fresh capital will last for 18-20 months after which the company will go for a Series C round of funding.
“But Series C will be a much bigger round than this one,” said Vora without divulging further information.
Asian Healthcare Fund, floated by Dabur Group chairman Anand Burman and former Dabur Pharma CEO Ajay Kumar Vij, raised Rs 180 crore for the first close of its debut fund in late 2011. It typically looks at deals worth Rs 40 crore or so and primarily focuses on growth capital transactions where it can end up with a significant minority stake.
MyDentist is its debut investment.
For Seedfund, this is the second investment in two months after it put in $3 million in Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd.
While private equity investment in the healthcare sector started at a slow pace with both value and volume of the new PE deals shrinking in the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 (as per data collated by VCCEdge), the sector had seen record deals in 2012, led by the healthcare services space. In contrast, M&A deals were largely restricted to pharmaceuticals.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)
