Thriwe Acquires Health And Financial Wellness Platform UCare

Consumer benefits company Thriwe has acquired digital health and financial wellness platform UCare Health in an all-cash deal.

This is the sixth acquisition by Thriwe in six years. With this acquisition, Thriwe has marked its foray into the $120 Bn prepaid card space which is growing at 36% CAGR and estimated to reach $760 Bn by 2028.

With this acquisition, Mumbai-based UCare’s workforce of more than 100 people along with founder Vikrant Gugnani will join Thriwe as a part of its larger global expansion plan.

UCare was founded in 2017 by Gugnani who served at Reliance Capital Asset Management as the CEO. The goal behind launching UCare was to reinvent the health and benefits experience for both employers and employees. The startup enables users to access healthcare services including 24×7 ambulance service, teleconsultation, discounted medicines, and laboratory tests on mobiles. 

Both the companies hope that UCare’s seamless payments platform integrated with Thriwe’s expertise in employee rewards, lifestyle benefits, and consumer perks, will help improve employee benefits offering for businesses. 

Sharing thoughts on the acquisition, Gugnai said, “This merger allows us to provide our customers with even more value and create a more positive and engaging employee experience,”  Entrepreneur India reported.

Thriwe was founded by Dhruv Verma in 2011, which eventually became a global company with offices in the UAE, Singapore, London, and Florida and is headquartered in India. 

In addition to the acquisition, Thriwe has allocated $15 Mn for the growth of UCare which is profitable and is expected to earn INR 200 Cr revenue in the next two years, under this acquisition.

According to a HealthTech India report, the Indian healthtech industry is expected to grow to $50 Bn in ten years from now. The study further revealed that health insurance contributes 20% to the non-life insurance business, making it the 2nd largest portfolio.

Recently, healthtech startup Bonatra acquired women’s health and wellness startup MyAva. Another healthtech startup Portea Medical, has received approval from SEBI for IPO. 

However, the government is concerned about data privacy and unverified prescriptions across the online pharmacies. For a long, it has been planning to ban e-pharmacies and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is going to meet the leaders of the e-pharma industry to discuss further.