Fidelity invests $10 million in Medwell Ventures

Medwell Ventures Pvt. Ltd, a Bengaluru-based home healthcare start-up, has raised its Series A fund worth $10 million from Fidelity Growth Partners India (FGPI) and Fidelity Biosciences, Boston, by diluting a significant minority stake. The company, founded last year, had raised its seed fund worth $3 million from promoters.

Medwell has been co-promoted by Vishal Bali, co-founder and chairman, Medwell Ventures, and former group chief executive officer of Fortis Healthcare Ltd; Dr. Ferzaan Engineer (former CEO of Quintiles India); Lalit Pai and Himanshu Shah.

Medwell caters to the demand for speciality medical care services at home by creating a new model of healthcare delivery for chronic diseases in the out-of-hospital space. The start-up has recently established operations in Hyderabad and is expanding into four more cities, including Mumbai and Pune. It plans to increase its subscriber base to cover more than 5 lakh families.

Medwell had acquired Bengaluru-based Nightingales Home Health Services for an undisclosed sum in April 2014. Nightingales currently provides 53,000 patient bedside nursing days a year, 24,000 medical services per year and has more than 5,000 families subscribing to its annual care plans.

“Over the next 15 years, chronic diseases will cost India Rs.280 trillion. We have a strong conviction that speciality home healthcare is one of the key solutions to managing the rising trend of high-cost chronic diseases in the country,” said Bali.

Another Bengaluru-based home healthcare company, Portea Medical Pvt. Ltd, had raised an undisclosed sum from Qualcomm Ventures, the venture investment arm of Qualcomm Inc., last year. Portea, acquired by serial entrepreneurs Krishnan Ganesh and his wife Meena in 2013, had raised $8 million from Accel Partners and Ventureast in its Series A funding in 2013.

Major hospital groups such as Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd are already present in the home healthcare space. Apollo’s arm Apollo Home Healthcare provides home services for adults and children. India’s home healthcare market is estimated at $2 billion and is growing at 20% annually.