HealthAssure raises pre-Series A money from The HR Fund

Primary healthcare services aggregator HealthAssure has raised $1 million (Rs 6.5 crore) in a pre-Series A round from human resource ventures-focused private investment firm The HR Fund.

The company will use the money to develop new primary healthcare products, besides investing on its digitisation and distribution initiatives, HealthAssure said in a press note.

“We are excited to have HR Fund as our investor partner. Their experience with successful start-ups and human resources will be beneficial for building more sophisticated products for corporates and employees,” HealthAssure founder and CEO Varun Gera said.

Founded in 2011, the company has tie-ups with hospitals, clinics, laboratories and doctors, besides partnerships with insurance companies to offer effective healthcare schemes for corporate employees at attractive rates.

HealthAssure, which has a network of 3,100 primary care centres across 1,100 cities in India, claimed it has covered over one million customers through their B2B business. Nearly 90% of its revenues is from its B2B business.

Gera said the fresh funds will also be used to boost its B2C segment.

Before launching HealthAssure, Gera was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare India. He also had stints in GE Money and ICICI Bank.

“HealthAssure is focused on health-as-a-workplace value and this aligns perfectly with our mission to transform the workforce. Currently, good health has become one of the top most priorities for corporate India, making this a timely and key investment for us,” said Utkarsh Joshi, CEO and partner, The HR Fund.

HeathAssure’s insurance and corporate segment clients include Apollo Munich, Max Bupa, Cigna, ICICI Prudential, Royal Sundram, Loreal, FedEx, Deloitte and Max Life Insurance.

This fundraising round was facilitated by Candle Advisors, a Mumbai-based investment banking and advisory services firm.

With this round, HealthAssure has so far raised about $2 million from a group of investors, including serial entrepreneur and investor Rajul Garg and Shuchin Bajaj. Gera said the firm will raise a bigger round of about $10 million soon to fast-track its next phase of growth.

Founded in 2012, The HR Fund is India’s first dedicated HR venture fund that invests in technology startups focused on staffing, training and technology. Its portfolio include People Strong, Sheroes and People Matters.

Health-tech deals

The broader healthcare sector has seen a considerable number of investments in recent times.

Last week, Pune-based health-tech startup LiveHealth, which operates a cloud-based platform for managing medical reports, raised $1.1 million in seed money from Nexus Venture Partners, while Mumbai-based Wellthy Therapeutics Pvt Ltd, which operates a mobile-based diabetes management platform, secured a Rs 13.5-crore seed round led by the family office of Ranjan Pai, chairman of Manipal Education and Medical Group.

Earlier this month, Mumbai-headquartered online drug delivery platform PharmEasy had raised Rs 196 crore in a Series C round of funding led by existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Orios Venture Partners.

In February, clinical research and data analytics startup THB, operated by Sekhmet Technologies Pvt Ltd, had raised $2.1 million in a round led by early-stage venture capital firm Blume Ventures and healthcare-focused VC firm Healthquad.

The same month also saw, health and fitness app HealthifyMe raising $12 million in a Series B round of funding from a clutch of investors led by Russia’s Sistema Asia Fund.