Peak XV, BEENEXT Backed Kenko Health Shuts Ops Due To Cash Crunch

Healthtech startup Kenko Health has shut shop as it ran out of funds and couldn’t secure insurance licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

The startup ran out of funds and was facing a legal action by a debt investor at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Kenko founder Aniruddha Sen told its employees in an email.

“Unfortunately, the company has run out of funds, and we were unable to infuse equity capital in time due to various internal reasons. Our company has been taken to the NCLT by a debt fund that had extended a loan to us,” Sen said in an email, accessed by Inc42, dated June 28. 

“While it is disheartening that things did not go as planned, we take pride in our beginnings and the achievements we made together. During better times, we honoured our commitments, demonstrating the potential of our vision. With your support, Kenko showcased a glimpse of what constructive disruption in healthcare finance could truly achieve,” Sen’s mail read. 

The development was first reported by Moneycontrol. The report also claimed that Kenko’s offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai have been closed. 

Inc42 also found that the startup’s website as well as other communication channels are currently unresponsive. Sen didn’t respond to Inc42’s queries on the development. 

This comes nearly two months after Inc42 reported about a rift between Kenko’s management and its investors over the startup bringing in a new domestic investor as a lead shareholder to get insurance licence from IRDAI had created a major hurdle for its operations. 

Founded in 2019, Kenko had raised over $13.7 Mn and counted the likes of Peak XV Partners, Beenext, Orios Venture Partners, angel fund Waveform Ventures, accelerator 9 Unicorns and the likes of Jupiter cofounder Jitendra Gupta, CRED founder Kunal Shah, and Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau among its backers. 

It started off with a quasi-insurance model that covered outpatient department (OPD) benefits during hospitalisation as well as medicine purchases. But it aimed to become an insurtech company. 

Kenko was close to bringing in a new domestic investor as a lead shareholder in order to get the insurance licence from IRDAI, but the extent of equity dilution in the deal alarmed some existing investors, Inc42 reported in June. 

Kenko was looking to make a mark in the country’s burgeoning insurtech segment, which is expected to become a $307 Bn opportunity by 2030. Go Digit, PB Fintech, Acko, Paytm are some of the startups operating in this segment.