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Early-stage venture capital firm W Health Ventures has announced a $70 million (₹610 crore) second fund focused on building healthcare companies from scratch in India.
Fund II will invest and back about eight to 10 new companies over the next four years.
“Seed stage fund of $70 million usually caters to 25 investments but we are doing about eight to 10 investments with a commitment to build and scale two companies per year in the next four years. We have narrowed our focus on single-specialty healthcare companies and business-to-business (B2B) AI-enabled services in the US–India corridor,” Pankaj Jethwani, managing partner, W Health Ventures, told Business Standard.
Speaking about the healthcare landscape in India, Jethwani said, “There has been a 15–20 per cent increase on an annual basis in healthcare spend over the past seven years, driven by rising affordability. We are only scratching the surface. For every $100 spent in healthcare in the US, Indians spend about $1–$2 per capita, and this will continue further over the coming 15–20 years.”
W Health told Business Standard that it typically allocates $5–10 million per company. The initial cheque size is usually in the range of $3–5 million, followed by subsequent investments of a similar size as the company scales.
W Health has begun deploying capital from its second fund, with EverHope Oncology offering an early glimpse into its future direction. Founded to transform cancer care in India, EverHope aims to bring global advancements in oncology to the local market. This includes implementing clinical protocols, advanced diagnostics, cutting-edge therapies, and delivering care in modern, patient-friendly treatment centres located closer to patients' homes—outside traditional hospital settings. The company raised a $10 million day-zero investment, led by Narayana Health, one of India’s most respected healthcare institutions.
Jethwani emphasised that W Health does not invest in companies lacking an India-focused angle. Nearly two-thirds of the firm’s capital is allocated to companies domiciled in India and targeting the Indian market, while the remaining one-third is reserved for companies operating in the US–India healthcare corridor.
W Health’s $43 million Fund I investments already serve over 25 million patients worldwide. These include Nivaan (chronic pain), Mylo (parenting), BeatO (diabetes), and BabyMD (paediatrics) in India, along with cross-border companies like Wysa (AI mental health services) and Reveal HealthTech (AI transformation services).
On government partnerships, W Health emphasised the Ayushman Bharat Yojana. Tushar Sadhu, associate vice-president, W Health, said, “We do see a lot of our patient volume coming from the government’s digital initiatives. Moreover, we are building our own infrastructure around public initiatives. It is still in the making, hence cannot disclose further details.”
Jethwani further noted that India’s healthcare market is going through an interesting journey, clocking in 50 IPOs in the past couple of years. “We look forward to investing in a company which is fundamentally and economically well maintained,” he said.
