India's MediBuddy gets $125m Series C

Quadria’s participation extends a trend of private equity firms entering venture-oriented healthcare plays as the use of online channels becomes increasingly ubiquitous in the sector. It also highlights Quadria’s continued confidence in at-home healthcare; it invested USD 40m in India’s Health Care At home in 2017.

“At-home healthcare will no longer be just primary care: like wound care, diabetes care or delivering medicine,” Abrar Mir, a co-founder and managing partner at Quadria, told AVCJ in December. “It’s a profound trend, which is led by patient behaviour and accelerated by technology. It has the potential to revolutionise not only how primary care but also how acute care is delivered.”

Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, InvAscent, Rebright Partners, Jafco Asia, TeamFund, FinSight Ventures, InnoVen Capital, Stride Ventures, and Alteria Capital re-upped. Bessemer and InvAscent each led Series B investments in 2020 and 2021, which amounted to USD 40m.

Bessemer, Jafco, TeamFund, Rebright, and InnoVen have also invested in India’s DocsApp, a similar company that merged with MediBuddy in mid-2020. At the time of the merger, Bessemer led an approximately USD 20m Series B for DocsApp. Both businesses continue to operate under their respective brands.

MediBuddy claims to be the largest end-to-end digital healthcare platform in India, provider 24-hour access to specialist doctors via video calls, doorstep medicine delivery, at-home lab tests, mental health support, and other integrated services. Services are delivered by a nationwide network of 90,000 doctors, 7,000 hospitals, 3,000 diagnostic centres, and 2,500 pharmacies.

The company provides a subscription plan called MediBuddy Gold, which covers unlimited specialist doctor consultations for the user and the family. This is said to have experienced accelerated adoption since the onset of the pandemic. The offering also includes at-home COVID-19 vaccinations, tracking of hospital bed availability for COVID-19 patients, and a COVID-19 helpline number,

The platform, which Quadria said has demonstrated “superior” unit economics, has some 30m users, including the employees and family members of more than 700 companies. The plan is to expand this base – local film star Amitabh Bachchan was recently hired as brand ambassador – while also developing technology, advancing clinical research, and exploring new products.

“MediBuddy is playing a critical role in organising primary healthcare services, improving quality and convenience even as it expands access across India, including tier-two and tier-three towns,” Tejasvi Ravi, healthcare lead at Lightrock, said in a statement. “The leadership team have a remarkable understanding of consumer needs and have scaled their reach and services to a leadership position.”

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Healthcare
• Technology
• Expansion
• India
• Quadria Capital
• LGT Lightstone Aspada
• Bessemer Venture Partners
• Invascent
• JAFCO
• Innoven Capital
• Alteria Capital
• TMT