SRI, Picus Capital lead funding in health-tech startup Meddo

Meddo, a health-technology startup that focusses on providing out-patient department (OPD) clinics with digital solutions, has extended its pre-Series A round with a $3 million (nearly Rs 22 crore at current exchange rates) capital infusion.

This extension has been led by the Philadelphia- and Hyderabad-based SRI Capital and Picus Capital, a global early-stage VC player set up by investors including Rocket Internet co-founder Alexander Samwer.

This takes the total capital raised by Gurugram-based Meddo in this round to $6 million. In September 2019, the company raised $3 million (around Rs 21.53 crore) in an exercise led by SRI Capital.

Other participants in that round included LetsVenture, growX Ventures, Citrus Pay co-founder Jitendra Gupta, and Venture Gurukool.

Operated by Arctern Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Meddo was set up in 2018 by Saurabh Kochhar and Naveen Nischal. 

Kochhar is the former CEO and founder of food delivery company Foodpanda as well as Printvenue (both of which have been funded by Rocket Internet), while Nishchal is a co-founder of Cygnus Hospitals.

Apart from providing digital solutions to OPD clinics, Meddo says its platform also gives these centres supply chain solutions. Some of these services include diagnostics support and medicine delivery services.

In a statement, Kochhar said the company will use the capital it has raised in this pre-Series A round to invest in three areas - increasing its geographical presence in the national capital region and other parts of the country; launching MeddoSure, an omni-channel unlimited care membership plan; and enhancing technological infrastructure, with a focus on integrations with the Bharat Health Stack.

Meddo says it so far served nearly six lakh patients, has on-boarded more than 350 doctors, and has rebranded almost 200 clinics under its brand.

Deals in the health-tech space

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated fundraising in the space, with segments such as online pharmacies even witnessing the beginnings of a consolidation play.

In December, the day-care surgeries-focussed Medfin raised Series A capital in a round led by Singapore-based HealthXCapital and Blume Ventures. Other participants in this round include Japan-based Dream Incubator and Axilor Ventures.

Also that month, radiology platform 5C Network (India) Pvt Ltd raised $1.2 million (Rs 8.84 crore) pre-Series A funding from existing investors Unitus Ventures and Axilor Ventures.

In October, patient-centric disease management and diagnostics firm Acculi Labs Pvt. Ltd mopped up Rs 5 crore (around $700,000) in seed funding. The company raised this capital from PirE Ventures.

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