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Vaatsalya raises $10 Million third round of PE funding
By siliconindia
Bangalore: Bangalore-based healthcare service provider, Vaatsalya, raises in third round of PE funding led by Singapore-based Aquarius India Fund, which is an India focused private equity fund that has been investing in emerging enterprises in India. One of the existing investor, Seedfund, also participated in this round of funding.
Spark Capital acted as the sole advisors for the transaction. The fund will be used in expanding its presence from eleven hospitals in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to create a pan India hospital network. The company had earlier raised 6 crore from the venture firms Seedfund and Aavishkar in its seed round of funding and an undisclosed amount in the second round of funding from Oasis Fund and returning investor Seedfund.
Co-Founded by Ashwin Naik and Veerendra Hiremath, Vaatsalya is a pioneer in healthcare services delivery in semi-urban and rural India. The hospital network focuses on Tier II and Tier III towns. They provide affordable healthcare services to thousands of families across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh through their hospitals in Hubli, Gadag, Bijapur, Mandya, Raichur, Hassan, Mysore, Gulbarga, Shimoga, Vizianagaram (AP), Narasannapetta (AP) and Ongole (AP).
"We are very excited and privileged to have Aquarius as our investment partner as they come with experience in mid-size and high growth companies across industries which is going to be of tremendous worth for our team to help us reach our goal. Seedfund backed us at a very early stage in 2007-08, while the business model was still evolving, and have continued to support us throughout our growth period by infusing multiple rounds of funding," says Naik.
SN Subaramanya and Vamsi Ramana Ravuri, from the investment advisory firm Aquarius Investment Advisors India, will join and represent Aquarius India Fund on the company's Board of Directors. Vaatsalya is a recipient of several awards including Frost and Sullivan Award for Healthcare Excellence in 2010, Sankalp Award for Healthcare Inclusion in 2009, BiD challenge India in 2007 and LRAMP award in the enterprise category in 2008. They are currently managing more than 800 beds, making them the largest low cost hospital chain in India.
"Vaatsalya has served more than half a million customers till date and we are proud of the exceptional level of care shown by our team of doctors, nurses and the support team at our hospitals. We are also very encouraged by our partnerships with existing nursing homes and hospitals who have joined hands with Vaatsalya over the last 3 years and helped us grow to this stage. Our mission is now to bring the same Vaatsalya spirit across the country," says Hiremath.
Aquarius Investment Advisors, Singapore, which has been managing various funds since 1995 focusing on Indian investment opportunities for international investors, manage Aquarius Investment also called as Aquarius India Fund. Aquarius India Fund is an India-centric private equity fund focusing primarily on private equity investments in attractive medium-sized growth companies in India. They have invested in many public and private companies through its various funds including MTR Foods, Napier Healthcare, Wizcraft, Mercator Lines, Equitas Micro-Finance, Vijay Nirman Company and Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company.
"Our investment in Vaatsalya meets our twin goals of providing growth capital to Indian private companies and our desire to be associated with the growing healthcare sector," says AS Thiyagarajan, Senior Managing Director, Aquarius India Fund.
Seedfund is an early stage venture capital fund looking to invest in media, mobile, internet, retail and consumer-facing businesses. Founded by Pravin Gandhi, Bharti Jacob and Mahesh Murthy, the firm has made investments in over 17 companies and supports companies through the lifecycle of companies growth. The portfolio of the company includes Vaatsalya, RedBus.in. CarWale, Neevales, EduSprots, Jeevanti, Thinklabs and many more.
Bharti says, "We have seen the Vaatsalya network grow from two hospitals to 11 hospitals, from 60 beds to more than 800 beds and the company has successfully extended the model beyond Karnataka into Andhra Pradesh, validating the original hypothesis."
