Exclusive: LetsMD raises additional angel investment

LetsMD, a fintech startup in the health space, has completed its angel round of investment with the participation of WaterBridge Ventures, co-founder Nivesh Khandelwal told TechCircle.in.

Calcutta Angels Network (CAN), LetsVenture, a platform that connects startups with investors, Anupam Mittal, founder and chief executive of People Group, and Currae Healthtech Fund were the other investors who had participated in this round last month.

It is not clear how much WaterBridge Ventures has invested but the total angel investment amounts to Rs 3.4 crore, raised at a valuation of around $3-4 million.

The capital will be used to develop technology, build the team, and for marketing, Khandelwal said.

LetsMD, run by Medbay India Pvt. Ltd., provides financing to patients for elective surgeries. The marketplace is integrated with a lending functionality through which users can convert a surgery bill into an equated monthly instalment (EMI).

"Most medical lenders partner with the hospitals to source patients and interact with the patient in the last mile. Our goal is to interact with the patient upstream while he is still searching for a healthcare service provider so we can help him get financed before he enters the hospital," said Khandelwal.

The company is targeting about 50 surgeries across eight specialties. It has already on-boarded about 250 hospitals which will go live soon.

LetsMD is currently developing lending capabilities for the unbanked segment. It would soon be launching a proprietary consultation technology which allows non-English speaking users to consult with super specialists online.

The company was founded by Khandelwal, a Wharton MBA with entrepreneurial experience across food and beverages and healthcare; Prakhar Gupta, a Purdue university graduate with startup experience across Silicon Valley and India; Tenzin Thargay, an IIM-Bangalore alumnus with more than a decade of experience across consumer internet and digital health platforms.

"The startup is at an intersection of healthcare and fintech, and is working on lack of transparency in pricing in high-value elective procedures, like IVF, knee joint replacement, etc. We think the team is the best in class to execute this strategy in India," said Ravi Kaushik, partner at WaterBridge Ventures.

The $15 million fund has previously invested in online learning startup Unacademy, with Blume Ventures, Tracxn Labs, Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma as co-investors.

Other recent deals in the healthcare space have been Healthians.com, an online diagnostics and wellness startup, which raised $3 million (Rs 20 crore) in a Series A round led by Beenext recently. Bengaluru-based Idea Bubbles raised $700,000 (Rs 4.5 crore) from early-stage funding platform 1Crowd, health and hygiene firm Eureka Forbes Ltd, along with its parent Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Pvt. Ltd.

In September, Neurosynaptic Communications, a provider of telehealth technologies, raised about $1 million (Rs 7 crore) led by Indian Angel Network, with participation from Axilor Ventures. The same month saw healthcare consultation startup Doctor Insta secure over $1 million (Rs 6.7 crore) from US-based venture capital firm RoundGlass Partners.