Healthcare technology startup Practo has raised $30 million in a round of funding led by existing investor Sequoia Capital and with participation from Matrix Partners, reports theTimes of India. The startup will use the funds to expand to 35 more cities in India over the next six months and for hiring. Note that Sequoia Capital had previously invested $4 million in Practo in its first round of funding back in 2012.
Practo provides a platform for patients to find doctors. Users can search for doctors based on specialty and location, doctor name or clinic name. The search can be further refined based on the area inside the city, availability, timings and consultation fee. Patients can directly book appointments from the search results, which display relevant doctors, their timings, fees, reviews and address.
The service is free for patients, and is currently available in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore among other cities in India, as well as in Singapore and metro Manila in the Philippines. Doctors can get listed on the platform for free as well, however Practo also offers a paid practice management software for doctors called Practo Ray.
The practice management software is currently priced at Rs 999/month for a basic plan and Rs 1999/month for an advanced plan. Both plans offer a cloud based platform to keep records, a calendar, EMR, billing management, patient communications, reporting, printouts and mobile apps among other features. The advanced plans additionally offers multiclinic management with one number, missed call alerts and IVR telephone services among others.
As of now, Practo claims its paid software is used by around 29,000 doctors, while overall it lists over 120,000 doctors on its platform. It also claims to have received 4 million searches for doctors on the platform in January, an increase from 2.5 million searches in December.
Competition
– Doctor search & appointment booking platform Qikwell had raised Rs 18 crore in Series A funding from SAIF Partners in November last year. Earlier, the platform had secured Rs 1.2 crore in angel funding from a group of investors, including Amit Somani, Sunil Kalra and Alok Mittal.
– In September, Healthcare services company DocSuggest had expanded beyond doctor appointment service to a health and personal care search and appointments service calledZiffi. Post this rebranding, the company has also raised Rs 15 crore Series A investment from the recently formed Orios Venture Partners. DocSuggest had also raised an undisclosed amount from Google India MD Rajan Anandan and other existing investors in April 2013.
– Delhi-based healthcare venture HelpingDoc had raised Rs 10 crore in a Series A funding round from Singapore-based Senior Marketing Systems (SMS). The company had said then, it would aim to enroll over 20,000 doctors in the next two years.
– Doctor directory and clinic management system Lybrate had secured $1.225 millioninvestment in August as well. Lybrate allows patients to identify doctors based on specialty and location. The service is available in more than 20 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Subsequently, the company had also launcheddedicated Android apps for doctors and patients.
– Healthcare startup eVaidya had raised Rs 3.5 crore from existing investors in February this year. eVaidya also offers some kind of management system for doctors which stores patient health records and offers remote consultation.
Image source: Practo
Corrigendum: Practo informed us that the funding was led by Sequoia Capital and not Matrix Partners. The article has been updated accordingly, our apologies for the error.
