Healthcare services startup to build India's first hospital network in semi-urban areas offering primary and secondary care services Mumbai, Maharashtra,
Seedfund, India's leading early-stage venture capital firm, and Aavishkaar India MVCF, have entered into a joint equity investment for Vaatsalya, a healthcare services startup which already has its hospitals in North Karntaka. The healthcare company is spearheading the establishment of India's first hospital network in semi-urban areas within the country and will offer primary and secondary care services
"This investment will enable Vaatsalya to create additional hospitals to provide much needed efficient and affordable healthcare services for large semi urban and rural families across India," said Dr. Ashwin Naik, Founder/CEO, Vaatsalya Healthcare Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Although India's metros and semi-urban areas are witnessing the mushrooming of corporate healthcare chains, basic healthcare services available in semi-urban and rural India have a long way to go. A commitment to bridge this gap in healthcare equity in semi-urban and rural areas formed the basis for birth of the very first Vaatsalya Hospital in the year 2005. "Vaatsalya intends to build a nationwide network of hospitals to focus on primary and secondary care services for families by the end of this decade," says Dr. Naik.
The efforts of Vaatsalya as a socially-relevant yet financial viable enterprise were rewarded when the company was honoured with the BiD Challenge India Award for the 'Best Business in the Established Category' for the year 2007. This was a global challenge conducted by a Netherlands based organization, Business in Development. "The opportunity to provide high quality healthcare services where it is most needed while building a sustainable business is part of our core vision and we are proud that we are partnering with pioneers like Aavishkaar and Seedfund in this effort. Both Seedfund & Aavishkaar have a track record of funding ventures which provide promising and innovative solutions in the Indian Market and it was important for us to work with a partner who will share our vision." added Dr. Veerendra Hiremath, Co-Founder and COO of Vaatsalya.
Bharati Jacob, Partner, Seedfund added, "Seedfund sees its partnership with Vaatsalya's highly accomplished team as an important milestone and will endeavour to build a low-cost model that delivers high quality healthcare network as well as helps serve majority of Indians residing in smaller towns." P. Pradeep, Partner, Aavishkaar said "The Vaatsalya model demonstrates that commercial considerations and social impact can indeed go together. We're really excited about this and hope to work closely with the company towards fulfilling their growth plans"
Bharati Jacob from Seedfund and P. Pradeep from Aavishkaar will join the Vaatsalya Board.
With passion, commitment and leadership, Vaatsalya (http://www.vaatsalya.com (External website that opens in a new window) 
) is the new face of healthcare in India. While 70% of India is living in semi-urban and rural areas, 80% of India's healthcare facilities are located in urban/metro areas. Vaatsalya is bridging this gap by building and managing hospitals in semi-urban and rural areas and bringing healthcare services where it is needed most. Vaatsalya has hospitals in North Karntaka and is expanding to other locations across the country with a vision to directly benefit 2.5 Million families.
Seedfund (http://www.seedfund.in (External website that opens in a new window) ) is India's leading early-stage venture capital fund founded by Pravin Gandhi, Bharati Jacob and Mahesh Murthy on the belief of investing 'a little money and a lot of time'. Pravin and Bharati came from a successful stint at Infinity Ventures, where they funded and mentored successes like IndiaGames and IndiaBulls. Mahesh earlier ran Passionfund, where he guided and backed companies like Geodesic, Indiaproperties, Compassbox, EBS and Webdunia. Seedfund's focus is on investing in companies that can significantly change the Indian and global markets through innovations in media, mobile, internet, retail and consumer-facing businesses. Seedfund's investors include Google, Reliance ADA, Motorola and billion dollar US VC funds like Sierra Ventures and Mayfield.
The Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund ('Aavishkaar', http://www.aavishkaar.org (External website that opens in a new window) ) is a World Business Award winning venture fund founded on the principle that sustainable development can be achieved by encouraging and investing into micro and small enterprises, with a value proposition targeting the Base of the Pyramid. Aavishkaar's focus is into sectors such as agri-business, renewable energy, healthcare, handicrafts, technology interventions improving accessibility and other such areas that impact the larger society.