Online healthcare platform 1mg secures $15 Mn Series C round

Gurugram-based digital health startup 1mg has secured $15 million in Series C round led by HBM Healthcare Investment and existing investors-Maverick Capital Ventures, Sequoia India, Omidyar Network and Kae Capital.

The online marketplace, which operates a mobile app 1mg and the web platform 1mg.com will use the latest proceeds to enhance its technologies' expansion plans, reported ET.

"We are growing double digits month-on-month.The funding is largely towards growth and building some key teams with regards to data analytics," said co-founder,CEO Prashant Tandon.

He added, "We will use the funds also for our geographic expansion of our pharmacies, diagnostics and e-consultation. We are looking at some additional business lines, like partnerships with insurance companies."

Earlier known as HealthkartPlus and rechristened as 1mg in 2015, is a medicine database that provides information on the side effects of medicines and the best alternatives for medicines.

The startup has added newer revenue generating verticals such as e-pharmacy, e-diagnostics, and e-consultations, a facility where users can request door-step sample collection for a number of tests offered by pathology labs like SRL Diagnostics and Dr Lal Path Labs

The company competes with the likes of Netmeds and Practo, across segments. Practo had raised $55 million in January. Sequoia Capital is an investor in both Practo and 1mg.

The healthcare-focussed HBM Healthcare Investment has about $1 billion as net asset and had invested in 1mg as a top-up round following the Series -B in which the startup had rasied $16 million in April last year.

According to KPMG report the total funds raised by healthcare startups in India since 2009 has been $338 million (approximately Rs 2248.6 crore)

"HBM decided to lead the current round and double down on its investment in 1mg, pre-empting any need for the company to seek external capital and keeping the focus on continued growth," said Andreas Wicki, CEO of HBM Healthcare Investments.

Image credit: Freepik