Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and India's top female shuttler PV Sindhu have called off their proposed investment in Hyderabad-based healthcare services aggregator CallHealth Services Pvt. Ltd.
“As a startup, we engage with like-minded individuals and institutions to partner with us in our journey. In this instance with Mr Tendulkar, the investment conversation did not fructify. We continue to have conversations with potential investors and will update the Registrar of Companies as and when they mature,†Hari Thalapalli, CEO of CallHealth, told VCCircle in an e-mailed response.
A company spokesperson confirmed Sindhu won't be investing either, but refused to elaborate on the reasons for the deal not materialising.
Earlier this month, VCCircle first reported citing CallHealth's filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs that Tendulkar was expected to lead a Rs 40 crore round in the company with a Rs 12 crore infusion.
Sindhu and her coach and former badminton player Pullela Gopichand were likely to put in Rs 4 crore each. US- and Hyderabad-based IT services company Tetra Soft India Pvt. Ltd and Bijman Projects Pvt. Ltd, among others, were also expected to participate in the funding round.
The company has received Rs 17 crore ($2.65 million) out of the targeted figure.
The development was first reported by news agency PTI, which said, citing people close to Tendulkar’s office, that the talks did not go beyond the preliminary stage.
CallHealth was founded in 2013 by Sandhya Raju, daughter of Ramco Systems managing director and CEO PR Venketrama Raja. Sandhya is also daughter-in-law of Ramalinga Raju, the former chairman and CEO of Satyam Computer Services who stepped down after admitting to large-scale manipulations of the company’s books.
CallHealth offers an array of healthcare services including doctor consultation, diagnostic tests, hospitalisation assistance, medicine delivery, and home-care services including nurses, physiotherapists and trained attendants. The company is present in Delhi, apart from a dozen cities in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.
CallHealth operates in a space that includes well-funded players like Practo, which has raised around $180 million to date, Health Care at Home ($40 million), NetMeds ($60 million), Portea ($45 million), 1mg ($36 million), Healthkart ($34.5 million) and Medwell Ventures ($34 million).
