Telemedicine venture docprime gets internal funding of $50 M from parent Policybazaar Group
Docprime, the latest healthcare venture said that it had received an internal funding of $50 million from parent company, EtechAces Marketing and Consulting Private Limited (Policybazaar Group).
The news comes almost three months after the Policybazaar Group raised more than $200 million in equity financing led by Japanese internet conglomerate, Softbank, at a valuation of a little more than $1 billion.
The platform plans to use the capital for building its technology capabilities, while looking to provide a seamless customer experience. It also plans to utilise various technology tools including AI, data science and deep analytics.
The telemedicine platform docprime is the third venture of the Group, which already owns insurtech (insurance-technology) player PolicyBazaar.com and lending marketplace, Paisabazaar.com.
With this latest venture, the Policybazaar Group aims to connect patients with doctors in real time by providing free consultation on chat and phone with an in-house team of health experts.
The platform also facilitates booking of doctor appointments and will soon be offering the option of OPD subscription packages with unlimited consultations and tests. The company is targeting one million free medical consultations by March 2019 and up to five million by March 2020.
Yashish Dahiya, CEO and Co-founder, Policybazaar Group of Companies, said,
“Healthcare sector has a lot of untapped potential and currently, the services are not affordable and accessible to all. With rising out-of-pocket expenses, there’s a need to provide quality healthcare at competitive prices that can be accessed by anyone, anywhere. As a Group, we wholeheartedly support docprime’s vision to provide a customised experience and maximise health benefits for everyone.”
Excited about the investment, Ashish Gupta, CEO, docprime, added,
"Our core offerings include free consultation services through chat and phone from our in-house doctors, and discounted doctor and lab appointment bookings to encourage consumers in seeking expert medical advice and getting right solutions in a timely manner. Soon, we will also bring a unique OPD subscription-based product, which will cover unlimited consultations and diagnostic tests."
docprime has partnered with 14,000 doctors and 5,000 diagnostic labs and aims to expand its network to 1,50,000 doctors and 20,000 labs across more than 100 cities.
Currently, appointments can be booked with doctors and labs based in the Delhi-NCR region, but from next month onwards, the facility will be made available across all major cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
Recently, the PolicyBazaar Group also announced that it will be creating 2,500 new job vacancies in FY19, taking its total employee strength to 6,000. The new vacancies will be mainly in the customer support function, where it expects to add 2,200 roles, while the rest of the jobs will be distributed across corporate and tech functions.