Healthtech Startup Portea Receives SEBI Nod For INR 1,000 Cr IPO

Healthvista India, the parent company of the healthtech startup Portea Medical, has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its initial public offering (IPO), per a SEBI update last week.

Portea filed its draft papers with the market regulator in July 2022, along with an addendum to its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) on March 10, 2023.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth INR 200 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 56,252,654 shares worth INR 800 Cr.

Portea plans to list on the BSE and NSE post the IPO.

The OFS will see Accel sell up to 24,804,874 shares that it holds across Accel Growth III Holdings (Mauritius) Limited, Accel India III (Mauritius) Limited and Accel India V (Mauritius) Limited. Ventureast Life Fund III will sell up to 4,278,680 shares and MEMG CDC Ventures will sell up to 4,445,735 equity shares.

Qualcomm Asia Pacific will be selling up to 4,256,924 equity shares and Sabre Partners Trust will offload up to 3,984,752 equity shares in the OFS.

Healthvista India plans to use the incoming liquidity towards working capital requirements of its subsidiary, Medybiz Pharma, along with repayment of its debt, purchase of medical equipment, inorganic growth initiatives, marketing and general corporate purposes.

Founded in 2013 by Krishnan Ganesh and his wife Meena, Portea offers healthcare services which include maternal care, physiotherapy, nursing, lab tests, counselling and critical care, among others.

Last week, Portea reclassified the founders as promoters after SEBI intervened. Per the company’s original DRHP, the healthtech startup said it did not have an identifiable promotor, something which was objected to by SEBI.

The market regulator’s move came as a continuation of its bid to ask companies to legally make founders with more than 10% stake in the company promoters. 

A promoter is required to make several disclosures during the IPO and after listing, including issues of capital and disclosure requirements, besides being subject to substantial acquisitions of shares and takeover regulations, prohibition of insider trading regulations and listing obligations.

This can potentially be another deterrent in startup IPOs at a time when venture funding has reduced significantly and an IPO might be one of the few options that a startup may have to raise funds.

Portea is currently operational in 16 cities across India and claims to have served more than 500K patients and worked with more than 70 hospital partners with 3.4 Mn patients visiting its centres.

In FY22, the healthtech startup posted a net standalone loss of INR 53.82 Cr, as against a revenue of INR 96.37 Cr from operations during the financial year, per Tofler data.