The doctor search engine Practo has received Rs.180 crore ($30 million) series B funding from Sequoia Capital & Matrix Partners. This according to the company is one of the largest investments into digital health globally and the largest for any Indian healthcare technology company.
The search engine has now chalked out plans to expand to 35 Indian cities and over six international locations by March 2016. It is already present in India, Singapore and Philippines and growing rapidly in each of these markets. The foray into varied markets would be supported by a massive hiring exercise. The company is looking to double its team strength from the current 600 to 1,500 by the year end.
Existing investor Sequoia Capital which pumped in $4 million in 2012, led the funding round with participation from Matrix Partners. Avnish Bajaj, managing director, Matrix India will join Practo’s Board of Directors.
Every month, over one million users book 1.20 lakh appointments via Practo search. Its volume has grown more than ten times in the last one year. “Our objective is to help consumers globally find the best doctors and make better healthcare decisions, ” Shashank ND, Founder & CEO, Practo told Pharmabiz in an email.
For instance, Practo.com currently has 1.5 million users a month performing four million searches. The booking and fixing is free for patients. Receiving appointments also comes at no cost to the doctors.
In fact, Practo Ray is platform of choice for thousands of doctors who use a software to manage their practice. We have over 90 per cent market share amongst doctors using online clinic management software. Annually there are 10-12 million patients served using Practo Ray and around 20 million healthcare records generated. Now doctors using Practo Ray can also offer digital health records, prescriptions etc. to patients securely, he added.
Practo tab is the next generation of patient experience in a clinic and perhaps the only dedicated tablet focused on in-clinic patient experience. It creates a paperless environment in a hospital, nursing home or clinic. The patient registration process is after they arrive at the clinic. It also provides immediate feedback once the visit is over, helping create a continuous feedback loop to improve the clinic experience for all patients.
According to Shashank, global customers have been receptive to the Practo model of healthcare. In a short span of 2 years since launch, Practo.com is already the leading doctor search engine in Asia. “We are currently having strong traction in India and South East Asia.”
With the series B funding, we plan to expand within India and abroard which will help us strengthen our leadership position. However, the company withheld its revenue target . “There is exponential growth and our revenues will also grow at a similar pace,” he says.