Pristyn Care raises $85 mn from Sequioa Capital, Tiger Global, others at unicorn valuation

By Nikhil Patwardhan

  • 08 Dec 2021
Credit: 123RF.com

Pristyn Care, a chain of multi-specialty clinics for planned surgeries has raised a little over $85 million (Rs 640.7 crore) as a part of its Series E funding round from Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management affiliates among others, making it the 42nd unicorn or a startup with over $1 billion valuation, in 2021 in India so far, regulatory filings show. 

The fundraise values Pristyn Care at $1.3 billion (Rs 9,749 crore) according to VCCircle estimates, based on filings made with the Registrar of Companies.    

VCCircle reported on 22 November, 2021 that Pristyn Care was close to raising a $100 million round at a valuation of around $1.4 billion from Seqouia Capital and Tiger Global. The company is also in talks to acquire one of the most heavily venture capital-funded and popular healthcare platforms, Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd, two people familiar with the development had told VCCircle

This funding round was led by Sequoia Capital’s affiliate SCHF PV Mauritius Ltd and Tiger Global Management’s affiliate Internet Fund VII Pte Ltd, according to the filings. As a part of the transaction, the company issued 1,266 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS), having a face value of Rs 50 each at a total issue price of Rs 50,19,080 each for consideration in cash.    

The company also raised Rs 5.27 crore by issuing 105 equity shares at a face value of Rs 1 and a premium of Rs 5,01,097. 

The fresh capital has been raised for meeting long term capital requirement of the company, according to the filings. News website Entrackr first reported the development, saying the funding was raised at a valuation of over $1.3billion. An email sent to Pristyn Care did not elicit an immediate response. 

The pandemic has given a fillip to the healthcare and healthtech sector. Many companies in the healthcare space have raised funds at high valuations over the last year. Pristyn is the fourth company in the healthcare space to turn unicorn and third in this year alone, following Innovaccer and Curefit.

Pristyn Care’s new funding comes just months after it raised $53 million in its Series D round of funding led by Tiger Global in April at a valuation of $550 million. Founded in 2018 by Harsimarbir Singh, Vaibhav Kapoor and Garima Sawhney, it operates an asset-light healthcare platform that houses over 300 expert surgeons.  

Prior to founding Pristyn Care, Singh was head of strategy at fintech firm MobiKwik. He previously worked with local services marketplace UrbanClap, and also cofounded companies such as DeliverOye and Whoopiee. Kapoor and Sawhney have previously worked in hospital firms including Max Healthcare. The company, operated by GHV Advanced Care Pvt. Ltd, performs surgeries for over 50 diseases such as piles, gynecology, phimosis, varicose veins, DVT, hernia, sinus, gallstones, cataract. 

Pristyn operates in over 30 cities across the country. It also provides end-to-end patient-first support services such as diagnostics support, complete health-insurance claim processing, hospital admission paperwork from the comfort of home, cab pick-up and drop for surgery, medicine delivery at home and free post-surgery consultation. In a statement last month, Pristyn Care said it has quadrupled its surgery count since January 2021 and aims to expand to over 1,000 surgical centres across more than 50 cities in the country.   

The company reported a multi-fold jump in its annual revenue in 2019-2020 (FY20). Its revenue rose to Rs 28.49 crore from Rs 3.71 crore in the previous year. However, the company reported a loss after tax of Rs 33.08 crore against a profit of Rs 1.71 crore in 2018-2019 (FY19).