Novo Holdings joins $80m Series C for Indonesia's Halodoc
Novo Holdings, which manages the wealth of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk Foundation, has made its first investment in an Asian healthcare company by participating in an $80 million Series C round for Indonesia healthcare technology provider Halodoc.
The round was led by a subsidiary of Astra International and also featured Temasek Holdings, Indonesian mobile carrier Telkomsel, Acrew Diversify Capital Fund, Bangkok Bank, UOB Venture Management, Singtel Innov8, Djarum Group-owned e-commerce platform BliBli, Allianz X, and Openspace Ventures.
Halodoc was established in 2016 by Jonathan Sudharta as an offshoot of Mensa Group, an integrated pharmaceutical products provider founded by his father. Leveraging decades-old ties the company had on the distribution side, he signed up 18,000 doctors. Sudharta then teamed up with Gojek to launch drug delivery services before establishing the online consultation platform.
Today, the company is a digital healthcare platform – available online and via mobile app – that allows patients to have live consultations with more than 20,000 licensed doctors. Last year, an appointment service was launched, enabling patients to book in-person consultations at hospitals, clinics, and laboratories, in 180 cities. There are 1,000 hospitals and 4,000 pharmacies in its network.
Halodoc is also helping roll out Indonesia’s COVID-19 vaccination program, administering 50,000 doses in the first 23 days to become of the country’s leading vaccination facilitators.
Novo Nordisk Foundation holds controlling stakes in diabetes care specialist Novo Nordisk and bioinnovation player Novozymes. It has $62 billion in assets, of which $19 billion is deployed in financial and life sciences investments. The life sciences portfolio is split into four strategies based on size and maturity, with $1-2 billion in new capital deployed each year.
Novo Holdings established an Asia life sciences investment team in Singapore last year, following the recruitment of Amit Kakar as regional head. He told AVCJ in a previous interview that a team will be put in China as well as in Singapore, complemented by existing resources in Europe and the US.
“We are seeing numerous exciting life sciences and healthcare investment opportunities in the Asia region which have the potential to deliver new treatments, access to healthcare and dramatically improve outcomes for patients,” Kakar said in a statement, adding that Halodoc is Indonesia’s foremost telehealth platform.
Halodoc received $10 million in Series A funding in 2016 led by Clermont Group, a Singapore-based private investment firm led by billionaire Richard Chandler. Gojek, Blibli, and Openspace also participated. UOB led a $65 million Series B in early 2019 and then the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Allianz Group, and Prudential contributed to a Series B extension.
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