The French venture capital firm Partech Partners (which recently closed €120 million funds and also invested in Evaneos and Sorare) has now backed an Asian startup dubbed as HD. The Bangkok-headquartered startup operates in the healthcare and surgery marketplace and recently announced a $6M funding round. Other investors, including M Venture Partners, AC Ventures, iSeed and Orvel Ventures also joined the round.
Notably, HD is also one of ten startups recently accepted into the Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia program.
Aims to accelerate HDcare
The new funding round will allow the company to solidify its leading position in the healthcare marketplace space while accelerating its product HDcare, HD’s new innovative elective surgery product. Also, the company plans to use the funding to expand its team and continue to develop its technology, with the goal of enabling over 5,000 healthcare providers, 300 operating rooms, and thousands of surgeries performed by 2024.
“As we put the pandemic behind us, our investors and us see a once-in-a-lifetime supply-driven opportunity in HDcare that is very similar to how companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Groupon leveraged supply and emerged from the 2008 financial crisis,” said Sheji Ho, CEO and co-founder of HD.
‘Airbnb for Surgeries’
Reportedly, 91% of people in Southeast Asia cannot access or afford surgeries compared to 52% for high-income Asia Pacific.
HD was founded in 2019 by Sheji Ho with a shared healthcare vision for the future. The company creates healthcare products and improves accessibility and affordability of healthcare services and elective surgeries in emerging Southeast Asia.
This ‘Airbnb for Surgeries’ solution enables HD to help both healthcare providers and patients. Launched in November last year, the company claims there is already strong demand from both the demand and supply sides, especially in the current challenging macro environment. Around 250K patients have used the platform to look for affordable healthcare and surgeries.
How is it helpful?
HDcare works with healthcare providers to increase utilisation of hospitals’ and clinics’ operating room capacities. It connects patients to hospitals, clinics, operating rooms, and surgeons while offering healthcare financing solutions to increase access to affordable care and surgeries.
Patients getting surgeries such as thyroid, haemorrhoid, and orthopaedic surgery get 15-20% better pricing versus market rates. Also, they get healthcare financing options. For those with insurance or employer coverage, the HDcare team helps patients navigate through the reimbursement processes.
