Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd, a web-based clinic management software developer and medicare listings provider, has raised $90 million in Series C funding led by Chinese media and technology conglomerate Tencent Holdings Pvt Ltd.
Marquee institutional investors such as Sofina, Sequoia India, Google Capital, Altimeter Capital, Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital Global Equities and Russian investor Yuri Milner also put money in this round, as per a press statement.
Practo will use the money to expand product lines, acquire more startups and enhance headcount.
“We are hard at work building a single health app that helps people live healthier by making better healthcare decisions for themselves and their loved ones. We are excited to partner with some of the best investors on the planet. Our global partners will give us the edge to continue building global healthcare products that our users love," said Shashank ND, founder and CEO of Practo.
“Apart from ‘the doctor’ space, we are looking to be in diagnostics and pharmacies. We will move into wellness and preventive healthcare,†Shashank told VCCircle in an interaction after the press meet to announce the new investment.
The company has drawn out plans to expand its presence from 35 to 100 cities in India in six months. Practo, which is already present in Philippines and Singapore, will expand to eight more countries and add 500 people to its workforce of 1,500 by February-March 2016.
A few months ago, Practo had raised $30 million in Series B round from Sequoia India and Matrix Partners. “We hardly used any of those capital. Most of it is still with us,†Shashank said. Three years ago, it had raised $4.6 million from Sequoia Capital in Series A funding. Recently, Practo acquired product outsourcing firm Genii Technologies Pvt Ltd for its capabilities in building bespoke e-commerce portals and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms.
Practo offers services like helping patients find relevant doctors online, compare them and schedule appointments. It also sells PractoRay under a SaaS model for primary clinics, which enables doctors to schedule and manage patient records. Practo already lists over 8,000 hospitals on its platform and will expand this to over 20,000 by end of this year. Recently, it launched a new feature that allows users to find diagnostic labs in their vicinity.
It competes with the likes of Lybrate, HelpingDoc, Praxify and AllizHealth.
Shashank said the company did not either hire an investment banker or conduct a roadshow for the fundraise.
About discussions with investors he said, “Discussions happened over the last few months. Our conversations were long but they were worth it. They (investors) are not just making capital allocations and placing their bets; they are focused on future.â€
About bringing on board marquee investor Yuri Milner Shashank said, “I have been following Yuri for a long time from the time he invested in Facebook. A few months ago. I had a small meeting with him which turned out to be a long one,†he said. However, he declined to share further details of the meeting.
About the role that investors play, he said “This is a great set of investors. They will be our mentors and will give us guidance.â€
For Altimeter Capital, the seven-year-old US investment firm founded by tech entrepreneur Brad Gerstner, this is its first investment in an Indian startup.
For Tencent, which led this funding round in Practo, it is its one of the first publicly announced investments in an Indian startup.