SUMMARY
Venture debt fund Stride Ventures led this round
The funding will be used in strengthening the firm’s technology, operations and marketing
MediBuddy CEO says telemedicine is growing at a monumental pace in India and the pandemic has only further amplified the importance of going digital, The healthtech market size in India is expected to be worth $25 Bn by 2025
Digital healthcare platform MediBuddy has raised a debt funding round of INR 25 Cr from venture debt fund Stride Ventures. The company had merged with telemedicine startup DocsApp in June last year.
The digital healthcare platform will utilise the funding in further strengthening its technology, operations and marketing to move a step closer to its mission of providing high-quality healthcare to a billion people.
Founded in 2000, MediBuddy helps its users consult specialist doctors, order medicines and book lab tests from the comfort of their homes. It is also a partner to several leading corporate customers in the country and helps their employees access multiple healthcare benefits.
Post the merger, MediBuddy is led by cofounders Satish Kannan and Enbasekar, as CEO and CTO respectively. The healthtech startup claims to have a partner network of over 90K doctors, 7K hospitals, 3K diagnostic centres and 2,500 pharmacies covering 95% pin-codes in India, catering to the healthcare needs of 3 crore Indians.
Healthtech startups are witnessing a huge surge in demand for telemedicine, video consultation and remote patient monitoring services as a growing number of patients and doctors are opting for virtual consultations over physical visits.
Stride Ventures says that their “continuing preference for businesses with strong fundamentals and scalability will see it become a strategic partner in MediBuddy’s growth journey.”
“The need for remote examining and monitoring of patients, and contactless technology all over India, is more imperative than ever. We are pleased to see how MediBuddy has leveraged technology to scale up rapidly with a clear vision to evolve health tech in India. We are excited to partner with them in their journey, as they look to enhance their offerings and leverage their market leadership to increase adoption across the country,” said Ishpreet Gandhi, founder and managing partner, Stride Ventures.
Stride Ventures had earlier announced the launch of its Fund II to invest up to INR 70 Cr ($9.6 Mn) in late stage startups with a target corpus of over INR 1,000 Cr. It will continue to invest in early to late-stage startups across sectors through its alternate financing solutions within venture debt. The firm claims to be one of the most active venture debt companies this year, having disbursed over INR 200 crores since January 2021.
According to Inc42 Plus’ ‘India’s Healthtech Landscape In A Post-Covid-19 World Report 2020’, the pandemic has exponentially increased the importance of quality healthcare. The healthtech market size in India is expected to be worth $25 Bn by 2025.
