【1988 Archives】

An Indian technology startup988 Archives that claims to be the world's largest appointment-booking platform for doctors, today announced it has raised more money.

Bangalore-based Practo has raised $55 million in its Series D funding led by Chinese internet giant, Tencent. The round also saw participation from a clutch of new investors that included ru-Net, RSI Fund, owned by Recruit Holdings, and Thrive Capital.

The Series D round takes Practo's total funding to about $180 million. These funds will be primarily used to fuel the company's expansion in the existing markets of India, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Brazil, and also in strengthening its enterprise offerings.

Practo connects patients to nearby doctors and clinics, letting them read about the doctors' experience as well as rating and reviews from other patients. For doctors and hospitals, Practo provides, for a fee, an online patient management system for maintaining the appointments as well as other services to help them market themselves, gain visibility and increase footfalls.

Practo now intends to integrate all that as well as medicine orders, payments and health data under one seamless ecosystem. "This will be made possible by providing a central infrastructure on which the entire healthcare ecosystem can interact, connect, create & exchange value by linking layers of data, communication & payments to deliver better care," Shashank ND, founder of Practo, said in a statement.

Practo currently operates in 15 countries in Latin America, Middle East and Southeast Asia, besides going strong in India. The company claims that it clocks about 45 million appointments annually which makes it the world's largest appointment-booking platform in only eight years, according to Forbes India.

What makes Practo successful is that it manages to address one of India's biggest pain-points, i.e. access to trusted medical health professionals.

According to the World Bank, India, a nation of 1.3 billion, has only 0.7 doctors per 1,000 people. In comparison, less populated nations like the U.K. and the U.S. are far higher at 2.8 and 2.5, respectively.

Besides being a go-to service for consumers, Practo has gradually become an important cog in the wheel for enterprises too.

Late last year it acquired advanced analytics firm Enlightiks that enables it to offer business intelligence to healthcare firms.

Prior to that, in 2015, it entered hospital management by buying Insta Health Solutions and facilitated smooth appointment-booking through the buyout of Qikwell Technologies.

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