River Rock Ventures leads bridge funding round in healthtech firm Remedo

Remedo Clinitech, which owns and operates telemedicine platform Remedo, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a bridge round, dubbed a pre-Series A round, led by strategy and human capital development consultancy firm River Rock Ventures.

Early-stage investment firm Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) and investment crowdfunding platform AngelList also participated in the round. Angel investors Mohit Satyanand, chairman of Teamwork Arts; Mitesh Daga, managing director of TPG Capital Asia; and Aditya Vij, operating partner at Kedaara Capital Advisors too funded the startup in this round.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to add critical medical services in the areas of cardiovascular, neuro and respiratory medicines to its platform, as per a statement.

Founded by Ruchir Mehra, Harsh Bansal and Richeek Arya in 2017, the platform connects patients with doctors. It offers its clients customised care plans, follow-up visit reminders, tests and medicine reminders. Its smart health assistant solution, called Disha, provides specialised wellness programmes to patients, taking into account their medical conditions.

“Because of (the) Covid-19 outbreak, patients are unable to meet their doctors in person as it is not advisable to visit hospitals if one is not a Corona affected case. As a result, we have seen a clear acceptance among the stakeholders to take the telemedicine route. Our business has witnessed 17% growth in follow-up visits for the doctors on the platform,” Mehra said.

Founders Mehra and Bansal are IIM Lucknow graduates, while Arya is an IIIT Hyderabad alumnus.

Remedo is also in the process of implementing a physical+digital model, and looks to offer services such as free home pickup of samples for diagnostics purposes, delivery of medicines from in-clinic pharmacies and waiting room engagement to educate patients on medical conditions.

“Remedo is tapping into a unique and highly scalable business-to-business healthtech market in India, which is currently underserved. The innovative business model that Remedo (uses to) bring doctors and patients together on a platform is a key differentiator,” Shyam Anjaria, an investor at IPV, said.

The healthtech startup segment is one of the few sectors that has managed to keep investor interest in the recent past, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier this month, online doctor consultation platform DocsApp raised $9.6 million in a growth funding round from Fusian Capital and returning investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Rebright Partners and Milliways Ventures. 

Healthcare platform Phable also raised $1 million this month in an ongoing bridge round of funding led by IPV. The company offers services to patients, doctors and hospitals. It helps patients manage chronic ailments with a compliance mechanism that alerts them on the intake of medication, lab tests and doctor visits.

Last month, New Delhi-based Plunes Technologies raised $300,000 in a bridge funding round from investors in Europe and the Middle East. Consumers can book medical procedures and doctor appointments and schedule physical tests online using the platform. 

Chronic disease management platform Wellthy Therapeutics secured $4 million in April from venture capital firm Saama Capital.