Eye hospital chain, ASG Eye Hospitals, announced on Wednesday that it has raised Rs 1,500 crore from General Atlantic, Kedaara Capital, and other existing investors including Foundation Holdings. The eye hospital chain said that this round was the largest fundraise in the eye care industry. ASG aims to become Asia’s leading eye hospital chain.
This investment will also pave the way for the exit of Investcorp that had invested in the company in 2017.
Dr Arun Singhvi, Chairman and Managing Director and Dr Shilpi Gang, Co-Founder, ASG Hospital Pvt. Ltd. said, “Since 2005, ASG Eye Hospitals’ doctor-led model has stood for clinical excellence and quality eye-care for all. We have been fortunate to work with like-minded, value-additive investors like Foundation Holdings that have been true partners and have strengthened our model, allowing for our expansion across India to establish over 50 hospitals.” The chain has doubled its number of hospitals in the last three years.
Shantanu Rastogi, Managing Director at General Atlantic, said, “General Atlantic has followed ASG Eye Hospitals for several years, and we are strongly encouraged by Drs. Singhvi and Gang’s commitment to clinical rigor and quality, grounded in academic research and training,” further adding that the chain has had a positive impact on millions of lives.
Nishant Sharma, CIO & Managing Partner of Kedaara Capital said that ASG has built a “replicable model to provide quality and affordable eye care to underserved masses” across the country. He added that Kedaara will support ASG to bolster its next phase of growth and realise its vision of becoming the leader in eye care.
“We have successfully worked together to deliver robust growth through a mix of organic and inorganic initiatives focused on the addition of quality capacity to rapidly scale the retail healthcare delivery model across India. This fundraise is expected to accelerate the realization of ASG Eye Hospitals’ vision to become one of Asia’s preeminent eye care providers, with plans to establish a network of over 200 hospitals within the next 36 months. With the imminent planned acquisition in South India and our high-quality M&A pipeline of regional players spanning key markets across the country, we are excited to welcome and partner with two highly regarded and forward-thinking investors at this transformational inflection point in the history of ASG Eye Hospitals,” said Aakash Sachdev, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Foundation Holdings.
The eye hospital chain, quoting a Lancet report, said that 62 million people in India are estimated to be visually impaired. It added that with timely intervention the number could be drastically reduced.
Founded by Dr Singhvi and Dr Gang in Jodhpur in 2005, the eye hospital chain has delivered eye care to over 6.5 million through its 50 specialty eye hospitals across 16 states, Nepal and Uganda. It provides comprehensive diagnosis, treatment and surgical services, 24/7 emergency services for trauma and 24-hour eye banking facilities.
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