Release date: 2015-08-03
Practo is the longest established online doctor appointment platform in the Indian market. The company was founded in 2008 and is founded by Shashank ND. The Bangalore-based startups have been growing at a very steady pace, and so far they have received a total of $35 million in venture capital from US investors, including investors in Sequoia Capital and A well-known investment institution such as Matrix Partners.
Now that the company is continuing to pursue growth in a new way, they have started their own acquisitions, and so far they have successfully acquired two companies: Fitho and Genii. In addition to India, the company's other Asian markets have developed well, such as Singapore and the Philippines. Practo is now moving towards other Southeast Asian countries.
Shashank recently accepted an interview with a foreign media. In this interview, he revealed some development plans of the company.
The following is an excerpt from this interview:
You have entered 35 cities in Asia. Where is your next goal?
We now reach millions of active users every month, and we are already the largest online doctor appointment platform in Asia. Before the end of this year, our goal is to become one of the largest online health care online platforms in the world.
We now offer services in three markets: India, the Philippines and Singapore. Before the end of the year, our plan is to enter an additional 10 countries. In addition to Southeast Asian countries, we will try to enter the markets of countries such as the Middle East, South America and Eastern Europe. Our expansion plan will be carried out in India and overseas.
But I still can't disclose where our next target market is, because before we enter a country, we have to certify the doctors there and ensure that they can register on our platform accurately. In some countries, this process will be faster, while others will take longer to complete the work. Every country has different laws and regulations.
You have recently entered the field of medical search. how is the progress?
Our goal is to be the only online platform for consumers to be healthy, whether they want to cure, prevent disease or want to exercise. The Medical Center Search is one of the first products on the line to go beyond the doctor search. This service can help patients find nearby clinics to test their health.
The user can find a suitable medical center nearby based on the name of the medical examination item. They can also read the reviews of the medical center to understand the quality of these services. You can also see other information such as HD photos and prices from the Medical Center. Users can also know which medical centers can provide electronic reports, and users can automatically import electronic reports into the Practo application without having to manually import them from the mail.
So far, more than 4,000 individual inspection centers from 8 cities have joined our platform, including some large chain organizations such as Thyrocare, Suburban Diagnostic, SRL Labs and Metropolis.
What is your profit channel?
Users can use our search products for free. Currently, we have two profit channels:
1) Practo Ray: This is a cloud-based clinic management software that doctors can use for a fee. On our platform, more than 90% of clinics are using the software, which helps doctors manage the information of millions of patients who can use the software to view their electronic medical records.
2) Prato Reach: This product collects user search requests and can be used by clinics to view potential patient needs and information.
Can I share some user numbers? Are you making a profit?
Millions of users find the right doctor every month through Practo. Our quarterly growth is between 50-100%. More than 170,000 doctors from 35 cities have registered on our platform.
If we only look at the Indian market, we can achieve profitability right away. So far this year, we have entered some other countries and have enriched our product line. We have recently acquired two companies, Fitho and Genii, and we plan to acquire more companies in the coming months.
What is your consideration for the acquisition of Fitho and Genii?
We believe that acquisition is a good way to get talent and technology. We are still in conversation with many other entrepreneurs and hope to work with them.
Earlier this year, we acquired Fitho, one of the earliest companies in the health care industry in the Indian market. After completing this acquisition, we have enriched our products. This acquisition has given us a lot of benefits. We are currently developing more excellent products, and these products will be available to everyone in the near future, and we will introduce them in detail.
Genii is also a very good company. They are a product outsourcing organization with extensive experience in e-commerce portals and SaaS platform building. This acquisition will accelerate our growth and help us with product development.
There are many other online doctor appointment platforms in India with a VC background. Are you facing fierce competition?
As I mentioned earlier, we are the undisputed leader in the digital health arena in the Indian market. In the medical SaaS services market, we have a 90% market share. We are also the only company in India that solves medical problems from the perspective of doctors and patients, and perhaps even the only one in the world.
As more and more doctors begin to accept digital technology, this technology will become more popular. Patients can also benefit from services such as digital medical records, digital prescriptions, digital pricing, and mobile appointment reminders that will make their medical treatment more convenient.
And we don't use third-party data, which is also very unique. We have a large team dedicated to finding local doctors in every street in every city and inviting them to join Practo. Before registering these doctors on our platform, we have a dedicated team to review and certify these doctors. This means that our users can fully trust the doctors on our platform, and our feedback system also plays a very important role, users can use this system to help us improve the doctor search function.
Recently there have been reports that you are in contact with Google Capital and Russian rich Yuri Milner, hoping to raise $63 million...
I will not respond and comment on any rumors on the market.
What are the trends in the field of health technology in India? Where will it go?
Medical health is the last industry to be transformed by technology. We have now seen the potential for growth in this industry, and technology is already affecting this industry.
Doctors and health care providers want to enhance their medical experience. But so far, technology is only changing the fields of large-scale medical equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturing (obviously these two areas are also very important for people's health). However, technology will soon begin to affect other aspects of medical care, making it easier for patients to seek medical care and improve the transparency of patients when they seek medical care, so that people can live healthier and live longer.
We believe that the future of technology will allow people to find the best doctors with a few clicks, and the world will surely become like this. And in the future our cases will be stored in the form of data. No matter which hospital they go to, they no longer need to carry their own medical records, because all hospitals can view the patient's electronic cases, and patients can also view their electronic cases at any time.
Source: Quick squid
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