Healthcare-focused fintech startup AffordPlan raises $10 M in Series B funding

AffordPlan raised Series B funding led by Lok Capital along with Omidyar Network, Prime Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital. With the new funds, the platform plans to expand its presence across India and diversify its portfolio of financial services products.

Delhi-based AffordPlan works to reduce the burden of patients' out-of-pocket expenses, and aims to make healthcare more accessible and affordable. It allows consumers to save an amount they are comfortable with on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, to make payments at their convenience. In addition, consumers also receive discounts on medical bills and diagnostic services when they use AffordPlan services, bringing overall treatment costs down by as much as 15-20 percent. The CloudNine Group, Strand Life Sciences, and Millennium Cancer Centers are among a growing list of institutions that work with AffordPlan.

The platform raised $10 million in a Series B funding round led by Lok Capital and onboarded Omidyar Network as a new investor alongside existing investors Prime Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital.

In a press statement, the company said the new funds will be used to meet the growing demand for its unique savings-based finance platform, and to advance the countrywide adoption of AffordPlan in various hospitals. The company is also planning to launch new savings, lending and insurance products to cover medical and healthcare expenses. It is also looking to hire more than 200 employees across India by the end of 2018 to fuel its expansion plans.

“For the longest period, we have been looking for suitable financial products in the healthcare spectrum to mitigate the risks of patients and their families getting trapped into the vicious cycle of debt trap rising out of unmanageable healthcare expenses. We believe that AffordPlan will help solve this problem through their range of products over the next few years,” added Venky Natarajan, Co-founder and Partner of Lok Capital.

So far, AffordPlan has partnered with more than 300 hospitals in the country to make non-emergency procedures affordable and claims to have already reached more than 100,000 patients. In the next 12-18 months, the startup will focus on building a full stack of financial services products for healthcare and deepen its corresponding distribution and supply chain capabilities.

In terms of its funding journey, the company had raised Rs 3 crore when it was selected to be a part of KStart’s first incubator batch in early 2016. Later during the launch in November 2016, it raised Rs 20 crore as part of its Series-A funding led by Prime Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital as a co-investor.

“In the absence of widespread adoption of health insurance by India’s Next Billion consumers, there is an acute and unmet need for affordable and quality healthcare. AffordPlan’s innovative savings product makes quality healthcare more affordable to everyday Indians,” said Vani Kola, Managing Director of Kalaari Capital.

Launched in December 2015 by Tejbir Singh and Hemal Bhatt, AffordPlan has been piloting the service since May 2016. With its savings-led product, AffordPlan offers a unique financial alternative that empowers hospitals and diagnostic centers to improve access and affordability of medical services for its patients. The Fintech startup allows planned savings that are ideal for non-emergency medical and expensive procedures such as pregnancy, eye care, dental, plastic surgeries, orthopaedic, bariatric, and more.

It enables hospitals to provide a tailored solution for patients to plan, save, and pay for their upcoming medical procedures. AffordPlan provides hospitals with the visibility of future cash flows and enables them to deliver the prescribed treatment without any interruptions due to cash-flow issues.

“The Indian healthcare sector is evolving to a state where patients will have multiple options for accessing healthcare from public and private insurance schemes, and other financial services initiatives. We have positioned AffordPlan at the intersection of finance, healthcare and technology to bring financial innovation to healthcare,” added Tejbir Singh, CEO & Co-founder of AffordPlan.

AffordPlan is currently operational in the Delhi/NCR region and Bengaluru, with plans to expand to three other cities over the next 12 months.