MedPlus to raise $25 mn for integrated health centres

MedPlus Health Services, a Rs 100 crore Hyderabad-based pharma retail chain, is close to raising $25 million from a couple of private equity investors including NEA-IndoUS Ventures.

MedPlus is raising the fund to expand its range of offerings and for start a string of integrated health centres, which will be capable of testing close to 600 samples on a single given day.

An official spokesperson of MedPlus declined to comment. According to industry information, NEA-IndoUS Ventures, the $180 million venture capital fund focused on India, will co-invest with a West Asian fund.

MedPlus is branching out from the $5 billion domestic pharma retail business which is witnessing some intense competition with a clutch of players such as Apollo, Manipal Health, Subhiksha, 98.4 Degree, Guardian Life Sciences fighting it out.

This fresh round of investment to MedPlus comes an year after iLabs invested close to Rs 23 crore in this firm. iLabs is the $300 million private equity fund co-founded by Satyam Computer's former COO Srini Raju. MedPlus presently has around 100 stores in Hyderabad and Bangalore. It is set to scale up to 400 with its foray into North India.

According to industry information, the company is planning to take the pathology labs and healthcare clinics to many cities in the country with the fresh round of $25 million investment. MedPlus will take the metropolis model, which involves closely aligning with hospital chains across the country and outsource diagnostic tests from them.

For NEA-IndoUS Ventures, which has Vinod Dham of Pentium chip fame, as its managing director, this investment will be the eighth investment during the past year. NEA-IndoUS has invested in companies spanning across mobile payments, semiconductor design, and travel portals among others.