Portea acquires medical equipment provider Health Mantra

Home healthcare services provider Portea Medical said on Thursday it has acquired home medical equipment provider Health Mantra India Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed amount in cash and stock.

The acquisition will help Portea expand into large home healthcare areas such as sleep medicine, respiratory care, geriatric care and orthopaedics, the company said in a statement.

Health Mantra’s founding team and employees will join Portea, operated by Health Vista India Pvt Ltd, as part of the deal.

This is Portea’s third deal in five months and indicates that the company, which thus far operated on an asset-light model, is adding assets related to its core business. The company had picked up  a majority stake in healthcare discovery firm PSTakeCare in January this year and acquired specialty drug distributor Medybiz Pharma Pvt Ltd in November last year.

The acquisitions have come after Portea raised $37.5 million in September from Accel Partners and other investors for expansion.

“Medical equipment is often an integral element of effective home healthcare especially in areas such as diabetes, oncology, orthopedics, geriatric care, sleep and respiratory disorders,” said Meena Ganesh, managing director and CEO at Portea, said in the statement. “Our acquisition of Health Mantra augments Portea’s offering and underlines our customer focus.”

Founded in 2009 by Ashish Bhutada and Anoop Kodoli, Bangalore-based Health Mantra provides home healthcare equipment and services for patients with sleep apnea and respiratory disorders. The company also provides respiratory equipment to hospitals. It has a team of about 30 biomedical engineers, physiotherapists and service staff, and a service network across Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.

According to Portea, the market in India for medical equipment that can be used in a home-based setting is estimated at Rs 10,000 crore a year.

Portea competes with companies such as Noida-based Health Care At Home India, backed by Dabur Group’s Burman family, Chennai-based India Home Healthcare and Bangalore-based Medwell Ventures. Medwell raised $10 million in June last year while US-based Bayada Health Healthcare had picked up a 26 per cent stake in India Home Healthcare two years ago.