Practo to add 65 cities in India, expand overseas in 2016

Firm claims it manages over 40 mn appointments in 35 Indian cities and in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Brazil

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Digital healthcare platform Practo is intensifying expansion in key markets, including Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and eastern Europe besides adding 65 new cities in India during 2016.

The Bengaluru-based firm claims it manages over 40 million appointments across 35 cities in India and in countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Brazil.

The company is present in over 50 cities in 15 countries around the world.

"We plan to expand our footprint from 35 to 100 cities in India, while internationally expanding further across South East Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Eastern Europe," Practo Founder & CEO Shashank N D told PTI.

Elaborating on the company's plans, he said "We will expand further into our existing international markets by covering more cities as well as brining more products to Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines."

When asked about the criteria for selecting markets for expansion, he said: "We usually select large markets with high out-of-pocket expense and lack of an legacy technology so that our products can immediately impact millions of people and improve their healthcare experience."

On the company's business model, he said Practo has developed a model named "hyper loop" that connects consumers to a strong community of healthcare providers, including enterprises most of which are running the company's software.

When asked about the main divers of growth, Shashank said: "While our marketplace and clinic software will continue their rapid growth, we will also see considerable growth coming on top with our recent acquisitions of Qikwell and Insta to help us serve the enterprise segments as well."

Practo claims that over 2,00,000 healthcare practitioners, 10,000 hospitals and over 8,000 diagnostic centres and 4,000 wellness and firness centres in 15 countries across the world are on its platform.