Bangalore-based digital healthcare platform Practo has laid off about 150 employees as part of its annual performance appraisal cycle.
“This is a combination of natural redundancies that emerge as we integrate our five acquisitions and evolve our businesses, as well as the performance required for the next phase of Practo’s growth,†a company spokesperson told VCCircle.
The layoffs were not because of a cash crunch, but part of the regular appraisal process, the spokesperson added.
Practo will provide the outgoing employees with two months' pay and outplacement assistance.
Founded in 2008 by Shashank ND, Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd has 1,500-2000 employees. It runs a doctor appointment site and offers an ad platform to clinics, hospitals, and diagnostic centres. The company currently has a presence in the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brazil, apart from India. It currently does close to 45 million appointments annually and has more than 1 lakh doctors on board.
Practo, which has so far secured $179 million in external funding, last raised $55 million in January in a Series D round led by Chinese investment holding company Tencent. During its last funding round, it also announced its foray into health insurance aggregation, where it will compete with startups such as PolicyBazaar and Coverfox.
Practo has upped its ante in the enterprise space, too, acquiring five companies in the last nine years. It bought US-based data analytics firm Enlightiks Inc. and its Indian operations late last year in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $13.9 million, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of News Corp VCCircle.
Its other four acquisitions were hospital information management solutions provider Insta Health, hospital appointment scheduling firm Qikwell, web- and app-based fitness management platform FithoWellness and product outsourcing firm Genii.
The company, which is on an expansion drive, is yet to turn a profit. Losses widened five-fold from Rs 12.9 crore in FY15 to Rs 64.6 crore in FY16, filings with the Registrar of Companies had showed.
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