Thyrocare Technologies Ltd, which became the second diagnostics chain to list on the Indian stock exchanges last year, has bagged the News Corp VCCircle healthcare company of the year award.
The Mumbai-based company beat four other nominees to walk away with the award at the glittering sixth annual VCCircle awards ceremony.
The winner was decided by an eminent panel of judges chaired by Arun Duggal, chairman of ICRA, an Indian subsidiary of ratings agency Moody’s.
Thyrocare was founded in 1996 by Arokiaswamy Velumani, who was born to a poor family in Appanaickenpatti Pudur village in Tamil Nadu. His battle against odds to build the company has been nothing short of a rags-to-riches story that has deservedly been raved about in the media.
The company reached its zenith last year when it made a spectacular debut on the stock exchanges, giving it a market value of Rs 3,320 crore (around $500 million then) on the day of listing.
Thyrocare had a network of seven labs including a central lab in Mumbai and 1,041 authorised service providers (ASPs) in 566 cities across the country, according to its annual report for 2016. Its revenues grew by 30.6% year-on-year to Rs 235.1 crore in the financial year ended 31 March 2016 while net profit rose 20% to Rs 58.75 crore during the period.
The diagnostics chain received its first external funding from Brand Capital, the investment arm of Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd, in 2006. Later in 2010, home-grown private equity firms CX Partners and Samara Capital invested $45.5 million in the company, giving an exit to Brand Capital. This was followed by an investment from venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners in 2012.
Subsequently in April 2016, CX Partner sold a majority of its stake in Thyrocare IPO while Norwest Venture Partners and Samara Capital still retain their stake in the diagnostic firm.
Thyrocare was the second diagnostics company to list on the stock exchanges, pipping even larger peers including SRL Ltd, part of Fortis Healthcare, and Metropolis Healthcare.
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