Sequoia was the only VC in Practo's cap table for 46 months: Shailendra Singh

Shailendra Singh can't stop raving about Practo, a startup that was backed by Sequoia Capital for 46 months.

After Sequoia's first investment of under $500,000 in March 2011, Practo took four years to rope in another VC firm, Singh, Bangalore-based managing director of Sequoia Capital, tweeted on Friday.

3/10. For the next 46 months (until Feb15), Sequoia was the only VC in practo's cap table, leading 3 rounds. Those ~4 years were not easy

— Shailendra J Singh (@singh_sequoia) August 7, 2015

Singh says that the focus and dedication of the Practo team, headed by co-founder and CEO Shashank ND, were important factors in Sequoia's commitment to the company.

7/10. Practo evolved and built moat through products & onboarding doctors. One practice at a time. Driving adoption. No short cuts.

— Shailendra J Singh (@singh_sequoia) August 7, 2015

Sequoia's persistence with Practo has paid off. A few months ago, Matrix Partners came on board Practo as part of a $30 million co-investment commitment along with Sequoia.

Subsequently, it launched a new feature that allows users to find diagnostic labs in their vicinity. Then came the decision to acquire product outsourcing firm Genii Technologies Pvt Ltd for its capabilities in building bespoke e-commerce portals and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms.

The tide had turned.

On Thursday, Practo announced that it secured $90 million in Series C funding from Chinese media and technology conglomerate Tencent Holdings Pvt Ltd, which has made its first investment in India. Marquee names such as Sofina, Google Capital, Altimeter Capital, Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital Global Equities and Russian investor Yuri Milner also put money in this round, in addition to Sequoia. Shashank said the company neither hired an investment banker nor did it conduct a roadshow to get these top investors on board.

Practo is now seen as the country's widest network for clinic-related CRM solutions and medicare listings.

8/10 @Practo is now the #1 healthcare platform in india. Tens of millions of patients have directly/indirectly used it

— Shailendra J Singh (@singh_sequoia) August 7, 2015

Practo will use the latest round of funding to expand product lines, acquire more startups and enhance headcount.

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