Ayu Health raises $6.3M Series A from Vertex Ventures & Stellaris Venture Partners

Bengaluru: Ayu Health, a health-tech startup with a network of hospitals has raised $6.3M in Series A financing from Vertex Ventures and Stellaris Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from marquee angel investors including Varun Alagh of Mamaearth, Ashish Gupta of Helion and Rajat Goel of EyeQ Hospitals.

Founded in 2019, Ayu Health has over 20 hospitals in Chandigarh and Bengaluru – all accredited by National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) – making it one of the largest hospital chains in these cities. The startup enables its network hospitals with technology to maintain high clinical standards and provide a better patient experience at an affordable cost.

This fund infusion will help Ayu expand its hospital network and build new technology solutions to enable insurance processing, efficient procurement and clinical quality management at network hospitals. Ayu Health expects to grow its business 10x in FY22 and expand its bed capacity to 5000+ beds in 6 cities by Dec 2022.

Speaking about the investment, Himesh Joshi, Co-founder, Ayu Health said, “Our mission at Ayu is to democratize hospital care by using technology to improve both the quality, efficiency and reach of stand-alone hospitals. Our partner hospitals use our technology platform to improve clinical quality, procure medicines and consumables, and process insurance claims; this results in better clinical outcomes, a smooth in-hospital experience and transparent pricing for patients.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Stellaris and Vertex, as well as our angel investors to take our cause forward”, he added.

Ayu Health was co-founded in 2019 by repeat entrepreneurs Himesh Joshi, Arjit Gupta and Karan Gupta. The trio had previously founded used-goods marketplace Zefo, which was acquired by Quikr in 2019.

Ritesh Banglani, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners said, “We have partnered with Himesh, Karan and Arjit previously when they were running Zefo, and have a very high regard for their capabilities. Their plan to tech-enable the $100 billion private hospital market and create India’s largest branded hospital chain resonated deeply with us. With their technology-led approach, they can provide high-quality and affordable hospital care to the mass market of patients.”

Piyush Kharbanda, Partner at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India said, “At Vertex, we are continuously looking for ways in which technology can drive efficiencies in healthcare by demystifying complex tenets of care such as pricing, insurance and non-medical interventions. We are excited to partner with Ayu Health on this mission, especially with evolving customer behavior towards healthcare in the post pandemic world.”