May 21st, 2018: ImpactGuru.com, India’s leading healthcare, nonprofit and personal cause donation crowdfunding platform, has announced a Series A round of $2 million (Rs 13 crores) co-led by Apollo Hospitals Group and Venture Catalysts India’s first integrated incubator. ImpactGuru.com was incubated at Harvard Innovation Lab in 2014.
Singapore based VC fund, RB Investments, an existing investor, also participated in the round along with Currae Healthtech Fund, India’s largest healthtech fund by number of deals. Other key investors include various family offices and Indian diaspora from US, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
The capital raised will enable ImpactGuru.com to scale crowdfunding in India by ramping up sales and marketing as well as technology development including artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and vernacular language support.
Healthcare crowdfunding is an alternative method of raising funds online for medical expenses, with the patient or his/her friends or family primarily relying on social media networks to mobilise donors to finance the relevant medical bills. Crowdfunding as a next generation financing method to pay for healthcare is particularly relevant for India’s 25 crore strong middle class population as 80% of India’s population doesn’t have health insurance (NSSO), access to credit is limited, and the culture of generosity is increasing rapidly in India.
ImpactGuru.com will now be the preferred crowdfunding platform for all Apollo Hospital Group’s patients nationwide effective immediately. Apollo Hospitals Group’s strategic investment into ImpactGuru.com will help it to increase the level of awareness of crowdfunding as a solution to make healthcare affordable for all – particularly cancer, transplant, and pediatric cases.
Venture Catalysts, India’s first integrated incubator, played an instrumental role in syndicating this round through its extensive network of angel investors and family offices in India, Southeast Asia, and Middle East. Beyond facilitating the investment, Venture Catalysts is also assisting the startup in scaling its donor base and creating a culture of philanthropy within its investor network.
ImpactGuru.com has an exclusive strategic partnership with US and UK based GlobalGiving, the world’s first and largest non-profit crowdfunding platform, and is the only crowdfunding platform in India that can offer tax benefits to international donors. Impact Guru and GlobalGiving together have raised Rs 105 crores / US$16mm so far for various social causes in India since their inception.
Piyush Jain, Co-Founder & CEO of ImpactGuru.com said, “ImpactGuru.com is thrilled to receive the backing of Apollo Hospitals Group, Venture Catalysts, Currae Healthtech Fund, and RB Investments to scale crowdfunding in India and make healthcare affordable for all. Every social cause deserves a chance to succeed. The potential to use technology to crowdfund for help is limitless in the face of India’s accelerating smartphone, internet, and digital payments penetration.”
Suneeta Reddy, MD of Apollo Hospitals said, “Apollo Hospitals is pleased to partner with ImpactGuru.com to provide the best and most cost effective patient financing solution in the market today. As a CSR initiative, Apollo Hospitals has decided to make crowdfunding free for all of our patients nationwide. We will also pioneer the matching of CSR funds from within the group as well other organizations from outside along with the generosity of the crowd, as we are determined that no one should be denied access to quality care.”
Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-Founder & President, Venture Catalysts said, “Crowdfunding to solve India’s healthcare and nonprofit crisis is a disruptive innovation led by ImpactGuru.com. ImpactGuru.com has immense potential with banks / NBFCs unable to provide sufficient medical loans due to low credit scores, lack of collateral, high risk of death and default.”
Harsh Bothra, RB Investments, said, “Donation crowdfunding is a proven business model in US, UK, and China with platforms seeing exponential growth year on year. With this round of funding, ImpactGuru.com is well positioned to become the market leader in India.”
Apoorva Patni, Founder, Currae Healthtech Fund said, “Through the power of crowdfunding, ImpactGuru.com has often mobilized Rs 25 lakhs for cancer or transplant surgeries in 48 hours. As India’s healthcare out of pocket expenditure at ~60% is among the highest in the world, healthcare crowdfunding is a highly scalable solution given the low insurance penetration in our country.”
