BeatO Raises INR 42 Cr Funding From W Health Ventures, PharmEasy

Healthtech startup BeatO, which specialises in diabetes-related solutions, has raised INR 42 Cr (roughly $5.8 Mn) in funding led by US-based venture capital firm W Health Ventures. The funding also saw participation from healthtech unicorn PharmEasy, Merisis VP and existing investors Orios VP, Leo Capital and others.

With this new funding, BeatO has raised INR 75 Cr over the last year across its Series A and Pre-Series B rounds. The investment from PharmEasy comes after healthtech unicorn’s acquisition of diagnostics chain Thyrocare.

The fresh funds will be utilised to fuel growth in the paying subscriber base across multiple channels and geographies as well as for product enhancement to cater to other cardiometabolic conditions besides diabetes.

Founded in 2015 by Yash Sehgal, Abhishek Kumar and Gautam Chopra, the company offers a digital care ecosystem for chronic condition management. Through a mobile app, the startup offers a comprehensive diabetes management and care platform via its glucose-monitoring solutions. It also offers diabetes-specific products such as snacks, specialty food and footwear, besides a marketplace of doctors, educators, diagnostics, medicines refills and insurance products.

Commenting on the new funding round, Gautam Chopra, cofounder and CEO, BeatO said, “Diabetes and hypertension have been the major killers in this pandemic. The situation looks even more grave when you consider that out of the 200 Mn Indians who have these conditions, 80% have uncontrolled levels. With our holistic tech-based solution that supports end to end management for these conditions, we have a proven product and technology with a highly engaged and rapidly growing member base. We welcome our new partners in our exciting journey as we continue to address this large problem and positively impact millions of lives,”

In the past year, amid the pandemic, the company claims double-digit month-on-month growth both in number of customers and revenues. BeatO claims to have 500,000 app installs overall and 300,000 subscribers, with 25,000 such paying members joining every month. Revenue has grown by 600% in the last year, claims BeatO with an annual gross revenue rate of INR 70 Cr.

Additionally, this growth is backed by a sharp increase in patient engagement. An average BeatO member measures their blood glucose roughly nine times per month, which is 3x more than India’s average, the company claims.

The pandemic has exponentially increased the importance of quality healthcare remotely and through digital platforms. Further, the number of health conscious users have increased rapidly. The lion’s share of this year’s healthtech funding was cornered by two unicorn rounds. Innovaccer got $105 Mn in February this year and PharmEasy raised $350 Mn in April to enter the coveted unicorn club.

The Indian healthtech market is estimated to be $21 Bn by 2025, which is just 3.3% of the total addressable healthcare market pegged to reach $638 Bn in 2025. While healthtech startup funding in FY21 (April’20 to March’21) went down by more than 43% ($443 Mn raised in FY21 compared to FY20’s $790 Mn), with $689 Mn invested during the first four months of 2021, the sector has already raised 30% more funding than the entire 2020.

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