Nephroplus raises $10-mn in Series B

Dialysis healthcare services provider nephroplus today announced raising $10-million (roughly Rs 59-crore) led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and global blue chip fund house Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP).

While the IFC has infused $7 million, the rest has come from BVP. The company in 2011 had raised $4.25 million Series A funding from BVP. Nephroplus indicated it was open to raising additional debt this year to meet its growth plans.

The company has a long-term target of opening a dialysis treatment centre across each of the 600-odd districts in the country.   

However, armed with the latest funding, the company plans to open 150 new centres in the next 2-3 years. It aims to reach out to 20,000 patients by then as against 2,000 now.

Of these centres, at least 32 would be coming up in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

“A majority of them, around 130, would be opened in reputed private hospitals under the outsourcing model,” said Vikram Vuppala, founder and CEO of the company. He said the model was being preferred by private hospitals as dialysis care involved several complexities like specialised care and modern technology.

According to the company, dialysis care penetration is low at 5-7 per cent in India where 60-million patients need dialysis treatment.

However, price affordability and access are the key challenges going forward, it said.

While a medication can arrest the kidney disease in stage-I and II, doctor's however recommend dialysis treatment for stage-IV and V patients.  

"As we scale our business, we look at how to rationalise the costs. Right now, we're investing to reduce the cost of treatment for patients," said Sandeep Gudibanda, co-founder and director of the company.

Besides opening centres in private hospitals, the company is active on working with government-run hospitals to treat patients for dialysis. It is currently offering dialysis services for Rs 1,250 in select hospitals under the united Andhra Pradesh government's Arogyashri health scheme.