MUMBAI: Novo Holdings, which has backed companies including Surya Hospitals and Manipal Hospitals, is writing larger cheques and shifting towards more mature healthcare assets in India.
“Of the 18 companies we have invested in Asia, about half have been deployed in India, and our ticket sizes have gradually risen. Initially, we were doing smaller cheques of about $20-30 million, which has now expanded to $40-100 million. Although we continue to do minority investments, we now place more focus on mature and more developed assets,” said Amit Kakar, managing partner and head of Novo Holdings Asia.
The Denmark-based firm, which began investing in India in 2022, has steadily increased both cheque sizes and follow-on commitments as it expands its exposure to healthcare services and related sectors.
Beyond a single capital infusion, Kakar emphasized the investment firm’s focus on follow-on rounds to further enable the growth trajectory of its portfolio companies. Novo Holdings has backed various companies such as Agnext, Medanta, MedGenome, Medi Assist, Qure.AI and Schott Poonawalla, while also investing across China and Southeast Asia.
The firm also allocates capital through global funds and has backed private equity giants like KKR and TPG, which have exposure to India. “We are investors in certain funds and that position has helped us co-invest in companies through the right GP-led fund partners,” Kakar said in the interview.
In India, Novo Holdings’ investments span healthcare services, diagnostics, manufacturing, med-tech, planetary health and artificial intelligence.
“While we focus on sectors such as med-tech and devices, pharma ancillary services and contract manufacturing, we are extremely bullish about the single-speciality, preventive and affordable healthcare segments, which enable us to tap markets beyond the metros in India,” Karthik Narayanaswamy, partner and head of India, said in the joint interview. “Other healthcare ancillary segments like healthcare information technology and revenue cycle management are also some areas of focus for us.”
India’a healthcare market was estimated at $638 billion in 2025, according to a report by IBEF.
Within healthcare, patient services are another key focus for the investment firm.
Since India is the most populous region, Kakar explained there is a large predisposition of unmet need for accessible healthcare and beyond in the country. As a result, the country has developed a vast patient services market, enabling the progression from large hospitals into standalone single-speciality facilities.
“While usual procedures like oncology or cardiology will reside in large chains, certain specialities like ophthalmology, dental, nephrology, mother and childcare, are being spun out into individual entities. We also see future opportunities to invest in sunrise segments in India, such as step-down and geriatric care, as the country has a large ageing population,” Kakar said.
Established in Denmark in 1999, Novo Holdings manages the assets and wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation and is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis A/S.. Beyond Asia, the life sciences investor has a presence in Europe and North America and invests across seed, venture and growth stages. It had total assets of EUR 142 billion as of 2024.
India is the only geography outside its home market that houses all four Novo entities. While the firm can offer patient and flexible capital, it operates with the same rigor as a typical fund to return capital to the foundation so it can be redeployed.
“Whenever we make a new investment, we build a business case with a defined exit timeline. We envision our exit opportunities coming from strategic buyouts or financial sponsors and in many cases, we also see public listings as a conducive strategy with Indian markets opening avenues for companies across different sizes and scales,” Kakar concluded.