Practo buys hospital appointment scheduler Qikwell

Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd, which sells web-based clinical management software to doctors and runs a platform listing medicare professionals, has acquired hospital appointment scheduling firm Qikwell for an undisclosed amount in a cash and stock deal.

The acquisition makes Practo the world's largest appointment booking platform, managing nearly 40 million appointments every year, claimed Shashank ND, co-founder and CEO of Practo at a press meet on Thursday. He said Practo aims to smoothen appointment booking services with the acquisition of Qikwell.

Co-founders of Qikwell—Krishna Prasad and Raghavendra Prasad (not related)—will join the leadership team at Practo and its 100-member strong team will join the Practo workforce soon, Shashank said.

This is Practo's fourth acquisition in five months. Earlier this month, it acquired hospital information management solution provider Insta Health Solutions Pvt Ltd for $12 million (Rs 76 crore) in a cash and equity deal. In April this year, Practo acquired NCR-based FithoWellness, a web and app-based fitness management platform for an undisclosed amount and in July, it acquired product outsourcing firm Genii Technologies Pvt Ltd for its capabilities in building bespoke e-commerce portals and Software-as-a-Service platforms.

"This is our fourth acquisition in last five months. We continue our mission to help simplify and digitise healthcare globally. Over the coming months, we will continue our aggressive expansion to build the world's leading healthcare technology platform," Shashank said.

Founded in 2011, Qikwell provides information on doctors, live information on doctor's availability, online appointment booking, delay/or schedule change notifications, etc. Users can also view doctor's availability live, book appointments instantly, view appointment status and get alerts in case of delays. The company claims to be present across 250 hospitals in 19 cities and works with marquee hospitals such as Manipal Hospitals, Cloudnine Hospitals, Fortis and Narayana Health.

"We chose Practo over some other options because together we can offer integrated solutions for participants in the healthcare ecosystem across patients, doctors and healthcare providers," said Prasad, co-founder and CEO of Qikwell.

Qikwell had secured $3 million (over Rs 18 crore) in funding from multi-stage private investment firm SAIF Partners in November last year. It had earlier raised under $200,000 in two tranches from a clutch of investors including Alok Mittal of Canaan Partners, Sunil Kalra of Indian Angel Network, Bhupender Singh, Sujatha V Kumar and Amit Somani.

Earlier this month, Practo had raised $90 million in Series C funding led by Chinese media and technology conglomerate Tencent Holdings Pvt Ltd.

It had raised $30 million in Series B round from Sequoia India and Matrix Partners in February this year. Three years ago, it had raised $4.6 million from Sequoia Capital in a Series A funding round.