Company claims it has 120,000 customers in Asia.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Practo, an Indian startup that offers a search portal matching doctors with patients and other digital services for the medical field, has closed a $30 million Series B round of funding to expand its influence in India and other emerging markets.
The Series B was headed up by extant investor Sequoia Capital in conjunction with Matrix Partners. During its Series A in 2012, Bengaluru-based Practo raised $4.6 million after an initial seed round in 2011.
The company’s marquee product is a search portal that allows patients to look up and schedule appointments with doctors across six cities throughout India. Practo claims to be Asia’s top health search portal with 120,000 customers using its platform, over a million visitors per month, and four million searches in the same period.
Aside from the search platform, Practo differentiates itself from competitors by offering proprietary software that manages practices, organizes doctor’s schedules, collates patient notes, and handles payments, among other implementations.
While Practo’s search portal is free, the company creates revenue by licensing its software — called Practo Ray — and advertising on its consumer portal.
Beyond India, Practo has a nascent database of 6,000 doctors in Singapore and recently launched in the Philippines.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Practo co-founder and chief executive Shashank ND stated the funding will go towards scaling the business to reach 35 additional cities in India and at least four more international markets within the year. Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South Africa and Brazil are among Practo’s targets. He also said that he anticipates that the company’s headcount will rise from 600 today to over 1,500 by the end of 2015.