Ennovent invests in rural India focused health-tech startup Karma HealthCare

Rajasthan-based health-tech startup Karma Primary Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd. has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Impact Investment Holding, an impact investment funding unit of advisory firm Ennovent.

This is the second private investment in Karma this year after it attracted funding from Ankur Capital.

Headquartered in Udaipur, Rajasthan, Karma HealthCare is a technology-based rural healthcare provider which began operations in 2014. It sets up chains of rural health centres which provide web enabled patient doctor consultations, face-to-face doctor consultations and medicines to patients.

It currently operates four rural healthcare centres and has served over 6000 patients.

The firm was founded by Jagdeep Gambhir, a former technology analyst with Goldman Sachs. Gambhir is a National Institute of Technology (NIT), Karnataka grad who went on to add an MBA in finance and operations from the Indian School of Business (ISB).

Karma aims to utilise the funds to invest in technology and in streamlining medical and operational processes in the coming two years. It will also use the funding to improve on its service offerings which currently include medical consultations, diagnostic services, provision of medicines and referral services.

Speaking about the investment, Joel Rodrigues, manager at Ennovent Circle, said, "The problem of expensive medical facilities and inaccurate diagnosis in rural areas can be solved by using information and communications technology. We are optimistic about the impact Karma will have in delivering healthcare service to rural areas, especially in reaching the last-mile. By disrupting how healthcare is accessed in rural areas, Karma Healthcare will be able to impact millions of lives through this investment."

This is the ninth investment facilitated by the Ennovent Circle, a group that collaborates to accelerate innovations for low-income markets since its launch three years ago. It is also the fifth investment made by Ennovent's Impact Investment Holding.

Since 2008, Ennovent has worked with around 60 clients to accelerate over 250 innovations in 15 countries.