Press release: How India’s healthcare focused fund HealthQuad disrupts health systems without compromising on financial and societal returns

July 14, 2020
Today, 3.8 billion people do not have access to quality healthcare. Some venture and private equity funds such as HealthQuad want to bridge the gap where public healthcare investments fail, and the Covid-19 crisis is a painful proof of this urgent need.

More than 50 million individual medical supplies delivered to remote areas of India, over 500,000 teleconsultations in underserved zones, creating a clinical data repository of more than 50 million patients… these are just some of the concrete results that HealthQuad, India’s leading healthcare innovation fund, generated through its portfolio of companies over the past 4 years. HealthQuad just completed the successful first close of its second fund with commitments of more than USD 68 million, around 93% of the target corpus for the total fund which is an exceptional feat. The fund expects to have its final close in January 2021.

Within ten years India will be the world’s most populous country and its third largest economy. The country’s healthcare infrastructure and manpower are struggling to keep pace with the growing demand, which has only been amplified by the recent Covid-19 crisis. At the same time, India provides an endless talent pool of engineers, entrepreneurs and coders. This puts the country in prime position to develop an ecosystem of disruptive business models for affordable healthcare solutions which could not only solve the unmet medical needs of Indians but also cater to 3.8 billion people in other low- and middle-income countries.

Charles-Antoine Janssen, Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of HealthQuad: “If India has to fulfil its mission of ‘Healthcare for All’, it must focus on leveraging technology and digital health along with a focus on the promotion of wellness and preventive health. The healthcare industry needs to move beyond linear growth such as adding new hospitals and adding a fixed number of physicians every year, and instead look for ways to disrupt the existing operating models. The current pandemic has further stressed the need to leverage technology to cater to the healthcare needs of such a large population. Disruptive technological solutions have the potential to take vault over some of these issues and push India towards a more robust and reliable healthcare system in the foreseeable future.”

The platform is backed by two sponsors. The first is KOIS, a global pioneer in impact investing and innovative finance solutions, which co-manages more than USD 220 million of assets across three impact investment funds. The second sponsors are Dr. Amit Varma and Abrar Mir, who are founders of Quadria Capital. Quadria Capital is a leading healthcare focused private equity fund with over USD 2.2 billion of assets under management across four investment vehicles.

HealthQuad’s second fund is supported by some of the leading global investors including Ackermans & van Haaren (AvH), global healthcare company MSD (Merck & Co. Inc), Nuveen- a TIAA company, Indian DFI SIDBI and Swedfund. Its current portfolio comprises seven disruptive companies seeking to address key healthcare challenges. Among them are Medikabazaar, India’s largest portal for online medical supplies catering to more than 20,000 pin codes in India and Neurosynaptic Communications, the country’s leading teleconsultation provider that covers a population of around 50 million. THB, India’s leading clinical data repository and data analytics company is also part of HealthQuad’s portfolio and  has delivered more than 100 real world evidence publications across 20 therapeutic areas.

Dr. Amit Varma, Co-founder of HealthQuad: “There is no need to compromise between financial and societal return. We are committed to creating an ecosystem of such category defining companies that improve accessibility and affordability and elevate the overall healthcare standards in India. We are pleased to be supported by like-minded global investors to deliver transformative impact beyond superior financial returns.”

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