Exclusive: Healthtech Unicorn Pristyn Care Trims Workforce, GST Officials Seek Clarity On Biz Model

Gurugram-based healthcare unicorn Pristyn Care fired around 300-350 employees, across departments, in the last two months, sources told Inc42. However, the startup said that it fired only around 45 employees based on their performance.

A Pristyn Care spokesperson told Inc42, “We have a comprehensive performance evaluation process that helps us understand the efficiency levels across the board. This is a regular process and, we found around 45 employees across the organization who were performing below expectations and we had to part ways.”

The layoffs in the recent months impacted employees from sales, tech and product teams, according to Inc42 sources.

Inc42 has further learnt that GST officials visited Pristyn Care’s office a few months ago seeking clarifications about the startup’s operations. “GST officials wanted clarity on whether Pristyn Care was a healthcare company or a tech company,” one of the sources said. 

The spokesperson of the startup confirmed the visit by the GST officials. “Last year, the GST department had some simple queries about our business model. We have cooperated fully and provided all the necessary details. As part of the process, we have also surrendered some of the GST input tax credit (under protest) that was available to us,” the spokesperson said. 

Founded by Harsimarbir (Harsh) Singh, Dr. Vaibhav Kapoor, and Dr. Garima Sawhney in 2018,  Pristyn Care offers advanced secondary care surgeries through its network of more than 800 hospitals, over 200 clinics, and 400+ in-house super-specialty surgeons. The company claims that it provides treatment for over 50 diseases across 42 cities. 

Pristyn Care entered the coveted unicorn club in late 2021 after raising $96 Mn in its Series E round from Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Winter Capital, Eriq Capital, and Hummingbird Ventures at a valuation of $1.4 Bn. The funding round also saw participation from angel investors such as Kunal Shah, Deepinder Goyal and Abhijraj Singh Bhal. The Gurugram-based startup has raised a total funding of over $177 Mn till date.

Last year, Pristyn Care acquired New Delhi-based healthcare startup Lybrate for an undisclosed amount. 

While the startup has not filed its financial statement for the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), it reported a loss of INR 63.5 Cr in FY21 on an operating revenue of INR 96 Cr. 

Pristyn Care with its multiple offerings competes against the likes of Lightrock India-backed MediBuddy, Practo, and PharmEasy. 

The ongoing layoffs in the Indian startup ecosystem have also affected healthtech startups. Startups in the healthcare sector, including Innovaccer, MFine, PharmEasy, and MediBuddy, have laid off over 1,700 employees so far since last year.

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