BackPracto expands to Malaysia
The move is in line with Practo's plans to branch out to at least 10 developing countries by the end of the year
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Bengaluru: Online doctor discovery platform Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd has launched its services in Malaysia, in line with the company’s plans to branch out to at least 10 developing countries by the end of the year.
Apart from India, Practo is now present in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The company claims to have more than 350 clinics and 500 doctors in Kuala Lumpur and plans to expand to other cities, including Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya and Puchong.
Practo will also grow its 15-member team in Kuala Lumpur, the company said in a statement. To begin with, the company has launched Practo Ray, a practice management software, and Practo Search, the consumer-facing discovery platform. It plans to launch products across wellness, fitness, preventive and curative medicine in the coming months.
“Practo Ray and Practo Search come together to create the world’s first healthcare hyperloop, connecting the entire healthcare ecosystem and helping consumers make better healthcare decisions," Shashank N.D., co-founder and chief executive at Practo, said in a statement.
Practo will target developing countries in southeast Asia, West Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe before entering developed countries, which are more competitive markets and call for a bigger investment, Mint reported on 24 July.
For instance, the US is home to five well-funded companies in the segment. ZocDoc, Better Doctor, Vitals, BookThatDoc and Best Doctors have together mopped up about $450 million from investors, according to start-up tracker Tracxn. Another significant company is Warsaw-based DocPlanner, which operates in 25 countries.
Practo recently raised $90 million from Tencent, Belgian venture capital firm Sofina, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Google Capital, Altimeter Capital, Yuri Milner, founder of Russian venture capital firm DST Global, and existing investors Sequoia India and Matrix Partners. The firm has raised $125 million since its launch in 2008. The $90 million round is the biggest for a domestic healthcare start-up.
Other prominent firms in the doctor discovery and practice management segment in India are Lybrate, Ziffi and HelpingDoc. While there are about 140 start-ups in this segment, only Practo and Lybrate have raised more than $10 million in a single funding round, according to Tracxn.
Practo, which was founded in 2008 by Shashank and Abhinav Lal, is a clear leader in the doctor discovery segment and practice management software segment in India, claiming about 90% of the domestic market share. Practo claims to facilitate 10 million searches a month.
There are more than 200,000 doctors, 5,000 diagnostic centres and 10,000 hospitals listed on its platform.
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