Hospital chain gets $20 mn from Premji firm

Hospital chain gets $20 mn from Premji firm

BS Reporter / Bangalore May 5, 2008

HealthCare Global (HCG), an oncology care hospital chain, has received $20 million of funding from PremjiInvest, a private equity fund sponsored by Azim Premji, who owns Wipro Ltd. With this funding, PremjiInvest has bought a "significant minority stake" in HCG. This is the third round of funding the hospital has received after the first of Rs 50 crore it received from IDFC Private Equity, and the second of Rs 10 crore from Evolvence.

The fresh funding is expected to help HCG enlarge its vision of backward integration in cancer management on a pan-India basis and realise its aim to make treatment accessible to wider sections through a hub-and-spoke model. The chain claims it will try to check the cost for the patients by scaling up.

"Through centralised care we will be able to keep costs down," said Ajai Kumar, chairman and CEO, HCG. This will enable the firm to ramp up fast across various geographies besides enhancing its research initiatives and bring technologies and treatment modalities, he added.

By fiscal 2010, HCG hopes to have 15 centres across the country, including three centres of excellence. In the next five years, the group will  have 20 centres up and running across the country. The additional funding will enable the hospital to adopt many a new innovation in the diagnosis, treatment and management of cancer. It costs HCG Rs 40-50 crore to set up a centre of excellence which would act as the hub, and Rs 8-10 crore to set up a facility attached to a hub. The hospital chain is looking at a minimum of 20 hospitals.

For expansion, HCG is considering both acquisition and association with hospitals and cancer specialists. Post-investment, two members from PremjiInvest have been inducted into the board of HCG