Lybrate, Doctor Search App For Indian Market, Raises $10.2 Million In Series A Funding

Lybrate Inc., which operates a website and application that helps users find doctors in India, has raised $10.2 million in its first round of venture capital funding, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said, in a press release on Wednesday.

Lybrate’s technology helps people search for and consult doctors anonymously via a mobile app or through its website. The funds will be used to develop products, recruit talent, enhance its technology and expand operations, the company said in the release.

Among the investors in this series A funding are Tiger Global Management, one of the backers of India’s largest e-commerce company Flipkart, existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, one of India’s largest diversified conglomerates.

Lybrate was founded in 2013 and, since the launch of the app in January this year, more than 80,000 doctors from various specialties from across India have their profiles listed on the service. The app has seen over half a million downloads in the last five months and over 100,000 use it each day, the company said.

The funding should also help Lybrate compete with rivals such as Bangalore’s Practo Technologies, which received a second round of investment in February.

“The company is poised to gain ground rapidly as the penetration of Internet services and smartphones surge,” Lee Fixel, a partner at Tiger Global, said, in the release, adding that Lybrate's "groundbreaking" concept would "revolutionize healthcare delivery in India."

Users can seek multiple opinions from verified doctors for free on the open platform, or start a one-on-one dialogue privately for a fee with doctors and share text, photo and voice content. While interacting on an open platform, physicians can also endorse the opinions of other doctors, Lybrate said.