Perth-based online medical bookings startup HealthEngine has announced the closure of a $26.7 million Series C round led by Indian VC firm Sequoia India, which will be used to expand the company’s team and expand its online offerings.
The funding marks the first direct investment for the India-focused VC fund in an Australian-based and founded startup, since the firm emerged last year as a branch of global VC firm Sequoia Capital.
As lead investor for the round, a Sequoia India representative will join the HealthEngine board alongside existing cornerstone investors Telstra Ventures and Seven West Media.
Pieter Kemps, principal at Sequoia India, said the firm took interest in HealthEngine’s “technical and commercial” potential to grow into a world-class business.
“Healthcare is an enormous sector ripe for innovation globally. HealthEngine has done particularly well to become a market leading digital health company in Australia,” he said.
“They have built the foundation of a powerful health experience platform that improves the lives of patients as well as healthcare practitioners.”
Alongside Sequoia India, the round saw follow-up investment from Go Capital, the founders of Lux Group, and carsales.com.au founder Greg RoeBuck. A handful of new investors also contributed, including private equity fund Alium Capital, which also today announced its participation into Nitro’s Us$15 million Series C round.
The funds will be used to grow HealthEngine’s 100-plus team, which spans across Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney, build out the startup’s product portfolio, and open up opportunities for expansion into other markets as well as future acquisitions.
Speaking about the raise, HealthEngine’s CEO and Medical Director, Dr Marcus Tan, said the funds will help forward the startup’s goal of improving the health of Australians.
“When we created HealthEngine, we wanted to break down the frustrations felt from both patients and practitioners trying to navigate the complex health system. We’re empowering patients to access and manage their healthcare through better information and technology,” he said.
Founded in 2006, HealthEngine connects patients to health practitioners such as general practitioners, dentists, and psychologists and allows them to book sessions through an online platform.
The startup has also formed a partnership with healthtech job search platform HealthcareLink, leveraging its platform to allow HealthEngine medical practitioners to find candidates for their practices.
“At over $160 billion per annum in expenditure, healthcare is one of Australia’s largest industries making up around ten percent of our national GDP. The sector impacts every Australian but has been slow to adopt many of the advances we have become accustomed to in other industries,” said Tan.
“[We look] to improve the health of all Australians by providing a platform that enables both timely access to quality care and a seamless patient experience.”
With the startup claiming approximately one million monthly active Australian users and practitioner monthly users in the tens of thousands, Tan said the business is now looking internationally thanks to acquiring an investment partner with a global “breadth of expertise”.
“This investment [also] announces HealthEngine’s arrival on the global startup scene, hopefully putting us on a similar trajectory to many of Sequoia’s other successes; iconic companies like Apple and Google and more recently startups like Whatsapp, Stripe, and Airbnb.
Image: Dr Marcus Tan. Source: LifeHacker.
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