Business Standard

PE investment­s grow threefold in health tech

- GIREESH BABU

Investment­s in health care technology in the first 11 months of 2017 have seen close to threefold growth, worth $258 million in 24 deals, as against $89 million in 33 deals during the comparable period last year.

In terms of value health technology firms have surpassed the full-year investment­s of $115 million in the segment, while 2016 saw 36 investment­s, according to data from research firm Venture Intelligen­ce.

The sector is seeing a growth in investment as investors are putting in money, showing confidence in the technologi­es and opportunit­y in the market, said an industry expert.

The segment witnessed some of the major investment­s compared to 2016, including a $65-million investment by Carlyle into medical billing revenue cycle management firm Visionary RCM in November, and a $55-million investment by Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, Google Capital, Recruit Strategic Partners, Chinese investor Tencent and Thrive Capital in Practo, which helps connect patients with doctors based on requiremen­ts.

Sequoia Capital India and others, in April, invested about $20 million in HealthEngi­ne, another online platform for patients to fine, book and manage medical appointmen­ts.

Last year, the top deals in the segment included Sequoia Capital India, Maveric Capital, Omidyar Network and HBM Healthcare Investment­s investing around $16 million in online pharmacy 1mg based in Gurugram, and PharmEasy, another online pharmacy player. Inhome healthcare companies which are also using technology for services, such as Portea Medical, has also raised funds during the year.

The surge in investment­s in the sector is in line with the growing interest of private equity investors in health care as a whole. The investment­s into the healthcare segment has grown to $1.22 billion till November end, 2017, in 45 deals as compared to $1.05 billion in 54 deals during the same period of last year. The total investment­s into the sector during 2016, on a full year basis, was around $1.20 billion, which is lesser than the investment­s till November, in 2017, in 63 deals.

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