Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd., an online healthcare platform, has raised Rs 574 crore ($90 million) in its latest round led by China's Tencent, along with new investors Sofina, Google Capital, Altimeter Capital, and billionaire Yuri Milner, founder of DST Global.
Existing investors Sequoia India and Matrix Partners, who had led a $30 million round in the Bangalore-based startup in February, also participated. The company has raised $125 million (Rs 800 crore) since its launch in 2008.
"Millions of users trust our platform every month and with our international expansion we aim to take Practo to billions of people globally," said Shashank ND, founder & CEO, Practo. The company operates two apps, B2B software product Practo Ray, and the online medical appointment scheduler Practo Search.
The new funds will go into expanding its reach to 100 cities in India from the current 35, and to 10 countries worldwide. Practo will also invest to broaden its product lines and acquire companies, besides hiring more people to its current strength of 1,500 employees.
This is the first investment in India by Tencent, China’s second-largest Internet company. “We are very excited to partner with Practo as one of our first few investments in India. We look for ambitious, visionary Internet companies that are improving people’s lives at a global scale. Practo is a digital healthcare leader and one of the fastest growing healthcare companies in India," said Hongwei Chen, senior director of investment and M&A, Tencent, in a statement.
Practo currently has 200,000 healthcare practitioners on its platform and over 10 million monthly searches by consumers for doctors and diagnostic centres.
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