Practo brings Qikwell onboard to transform digital healthcare globally Qikwell has more than 100 employees, and over the last 4 years it has grown its presence in over 250 hospitals across 19 cities.
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After the acquisition of Mumbai Angel backed InstaHealth Solutions for $12 million, Practo, an online healthcare platform, yesterday announced another acquisition. This time the start-up has acquired Qikwell, a hospital appointment scheduling firm. This acquisition positions Practo as the world's largest appointment booking platform, with nearly 40 million appointments managed every year. Further, Krishna Prasad and Raghavendra Prasad, Co-founders of Qikwell will soon join the leadership team at Practo along with its 100-member strong team joining the Practo workforce, as per the press release.
Commenting on the acquisition, Krishna Prasad, Co-Founder & CEO, Qikwell said, "Qikwell is thrilled to join Practo in their quest to enable digital healthcare worldwide. We share the same passion, vision and commitment to customers in offering great products".
Speaking on the same lines, Shashank ND, Founder & CEO, Practo said, "I am very pleased to welcome Krishna, Ragavendra and the Qikwell team to Practo. Practo has been the pioneer in digital health and with this acquisition Practo now becomes the world's leading appointment management platform. Over the coming months, we will continue our aggressive expansion and as build the world's leading healthcare technology platform."
This is the fourth acquisition of Practo in last five months. Apart from InstaHealth, Practo has acquired Genii Technologies Private limited, a product outsourcing firm and Delhi-based, FithoWellness for undisclosed amount in the month of July and April respectively. "This is our 4th acquisition in the last 5 months. We continue our mission to help simplify and digitise healthcare globally and make Practo your health app," Shashank ND added further.
Beside this acquisition, Practo had also raised $90 million in Series C funding led by Tencent Holdings Private limited. Prior to that, the digital healthcare startup also raised $30 million in Series B round and $4.6 million in Series A round from Sequoia India, Matrix Partners and Sequoia Capital respectively.
Founded in 2011, Qikwell strives to bring transparency to the selection and determination of a healthcare provider and making the entire physical visit experience better for the consumer. Moreover, Qikwell will continue to be led by Krishna and Raghavendra. "We chose Practo over some other options because together we can offer superior, comprehensive and integrated solutions for all participants in the healthcare ecosystem across patients, doctors and healthcare providers. I look forward to working with Shashank and the Practo team in realising our shared vision of transforming healthcare globally," said Krishna.
Today, Qikwell has more than 100 employees and over the last 4 years it has grown to become one of the leaders in hospital appointment scheduling with presence across 250 hospitals in 19 cities. It powers patient experience across hospitals like Manipal, Fortis, Cloudnine, Narayana Hrudalaya and many more. It also has over 6000 top doctors across India including the top Pediatricians, Gynecologists, Neurologists and more.
In November last year, the company has also raised $3 million led by SAIF Partners. It had earlier raised under $200,000 in two tranches from the investors including Alok Mittal of Canaan Partners, Sunil Kalra of Indian Angel Network, Bhupender Singh, Sujatha V Kumar and Amit Somani.
