Practo raises $90 million in Series C funding led by Tencent

Sofina, Google Capital, Altimeter Capital, Sequoia Capital Global Equities and others participate in Series C Funding

Practo, backed by Sequoia India and Matrix Partners India, announced on Thursday it had closed $90 million (Rs 574 crore) in a Series-C funding.

Practo is the largest scheduling service to doctors in India. It plans to use this investment to newer markets in West Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

The investment was led by Chinese online major Tencent, which owns WeChat, a WhatsApp competitor, and the largest social network in China. Other investors are Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Belgian investment firm Sofina, Google Capital, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Altimeter Capital, and existing investors Sequoia India and Matrix Partners India.

Practo has raised $125 million so far and the current investments value the company at about $500 million. In July, it acquired Genii, a technology design firm, and is to expand services to diagnostic labs and hospitals, and target the premium enterprise market. Practo offers a service that allows patients to fix appointments with doctors, as well as build a software platform to digitise their records.

In 2015, Practo grew sixfold to become one of the fastest-growing health-care platforms in the world, with nearly 200,000 practitioners and a little over 10 million monthly searches by consumers. Practo has about 5,000 diagnostic centres and 8,000 hospitals on its platform.

"We are very excited to partner 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 health-care leader and one of the fastest-growing health care companies in India," said Hongwei Chen, senior director of investment and mergers and acquisitions, Tencent.

Over the next six months, Practo will expand its product lines and continue to look for acquisitions of companies, especially in pharmaceuticals. The plan is to expand from the current 35 Indian cities and three countries to 100 Indian cities and 10 countries across Southeast Asia, Latin America, West Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Currently, Practo has presence in India, Singapore, and the Philippines.

"Our global partners will give us the edge to continue building global health care products. We aim to take Practo to billions globally," said Shashank ND, co-founder and chief executive.