Ideas|Products|Startups|VCs

HealthKart, gurgaon based online retailer has raised $5M from Sequoia Capital and Omidyar Network as part of series B round.  In April 2011 HealthKart had raised $1M from Kae Capital and Sequoia Capital.

Primarily the investments will be utilized in strengthening the product portfolio, supply chain system and good chunk of investments will be deployed in marketing.

Healthkart, is founded by two IIT-D graduates – Prashant Tandon and Sameer Maheshwari. They have able to bring in some talented entrepreneurs in their core team, for instance Animesh Jain is head of Online Marketing & Product, Animesh was CEO and Cofounder of iTasveer.

Healthkart which began as online health store has expanded its product portfolio, now it sells baby care, cosmetic products as well.

Lets have a look at their monthly traction:

Unique visitors (estimated cookies)	–	150K
Unique visitors (users)	–	69K
Page views	–	1M
Total visits	–	150K
Avg time on site	–	8:00

-Hitesh, vcBytes

Visionary RCM (VRCM), an ambitious services company specialising in healthcare revenue cycle management, announced that it has received funding of Rs 150 Million from leading venture capital company IndoUS Venture Partners (IUVP), which provides early and mid-stage funding to new and growing businesses in India. VRCM will primarily use the capital to acquire US based companies in the coming year. With this funding the company is looking to aggressively scale up its processes to become a leading player in this space.

VRCM was started in the year 2006 by a first generation entrepreneur Mr. Rajesh P Surana, along with Mr. Sundararajan, advisor to Shriram Group and Mr. Abhaya Kumar, Joint Managing Director, Shasun Chemicals and Drugs. The company has a state of the art delivery center in Chennai. VRCM is very keen on growth and has grown from strength of 6 people to 185 as of this day. VRCM is a new age technology company focusing on providing customer focused Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Services. We enable healthcare organizations to develop sustainable technology solutions that improve their productivity and minimize costs.

Rajesh Surana, CEO of VRCM, said “US Healthcare offers a huge spectrum of opportunities for innovative companies like ours for organic and inorganic growth. Our focus is on creating brand equity for VRCM in Healthcare Services Space and partnering with IUVP would help us in working towards our vision. With this we expect to continue on our high growth path by tapping newer markets and attracting quality talent.”

Kumar Shiralagi, Managing Director of IUVP said “Our keen interest in Visionary RCM comes from the scope of growth and the track record of the company in the healthcare space. VRCM with its strong service proposition has not only offered customers better value but also driven them towards higher productivity and margins which are clear indicators of the commitment that it has towards its business. We hope that with this partnership VRCM is able to leverage the enormous opportunities that the US market offers in the healthcare space and build a growth trajectory for all associated”

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Swas Healthcare is a 3 year old Gujarat based venture which offers naturopath treatment.

Swas also provides treatments for lot of advanced-stage cases of chronic diseases. It has a team of qualified and experienced doctors. This helps Swas provide cost effective treatments for chronic diseases. At an all inclusive price as low as INR 300 per day, Swas perhaps runs the lowest priced for-profit hospital in the country.

Swas is operational in Kutch and Rajkot area of Gujarat and the money raised from Aavishkaar will be used to expand their presence in other parts of Gujarat. This would help Swas establish a hub and spoke model of naturopathy clinics and hospitals.

Aavishkaar Micro Venture Capital Fund is a India based fund that invests in early stage and highly scalable business models. Vineet Rai, CEO of Aavishkaar said, “ Swas Healthcare is our second investment in Healthcare after Vaatsalya and we remain committed to support ventures in affordable quality healthcare .”

Sanjay Singh, Director of Swas Healthcare, said “This investment would help us take our bouquet of highly effective and low cost healthcare solutions to a much larger population. We keep prices low because for a large number of people, medically as well financially, this might be the only solution for their chronic health problems.”