BANGALORE, January 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Bangalore-based affordable ophthalmic technology and solutions company Forus Health Pvt. Ltd. (Forus) has successfully raised Series B funding of Rs 50 crore in a round led by Asian Healthcare Fund. Accel Partners and IDG Ventures India, the existing investors, also participated. Unitus Capital was the sole advisor to Forus for the transaction.
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Forus was founded in 2010 by Dr. Shyam Vasudeva Rao and K. Chandrasekhar with a mission to address healthcare delivery issues through innovative and inclusive product design, and service deployment. Dr. Shyam was previously the Director Technology at Philips Healthcare and Chandrasekhar was previously the Director Strategy at NXP Semiconductors.
Forus' flagship product 3nethra is an integrated, intelligent, affordable, rugged and portable eye screening device that can screen a patient in less than 5 minutes for common eye problems. These devices are integrated with a unique cloud-hosted telemedicine application 'Foruscare', offering a complete eye care solution platform.
With an extremely low ophthalmologist to patient ratio in India, 3nethra has been designed so that it can be operated by a minimally-trained technician, and can be deployed in remote areas, exponentially improving access to quality ophthalmic care. Due to its ease of use and superior technical and imaging capabilities, the device has gained extensive recognition within the Indian ophthalmic community and has also received widespread traction globally, with more than 220 installations across 14 countries till date and has since screened 600,000 eyes worldwide.
"Forus aims to help 20mn people in the next three years by revolutionizing healthcare delivery, adopting a prevention-centric approach and democratizing screening," says Dr. Shyam Vasudeva Rao, the President and CTO of Forus.
"Acceptance from the ophthalmic fraternity and encouragement from our marquee investors motivate us to strive towards fulfilling Forus' mission. This investment will be crucial in helping us achieve scale through strengthening our supply chain and sales networks, as well as developing new products from our world class R&D facility in Bangalore," K. Chandrasekhar, the CEO of Forus, stated.
"3Nethra is a cutting-edge product that can address 1/3rd of the world's population that needs affordable eye testing. With their deep technology background and great execution, Forus has achieved widespread traction internationally. We are excited to partner with Forus on this journey and their success," said Anand Daniel, Principal, Accel Partners.
Ajay Kumar Vij, CEO, AHF said on the occasion, "We have been impressed with the unique value proposition and management depth of Forus as well as the social impact created by their product 3nethra. We look forward to partner with K. Chandrasekhar, Dr. Shyam V. Rao and their team in their journey of building a leading player in the medical devices space in India and globally."
"We believe Forus' pre-screening technology has the potential to be a game-changer in addressing the issues relating to preventive healthcare globally. As early investor in Forus, we are very happy to see the company scale from strength to strength and we remain committed to their chosen growth path," said Ranjith Menon, Senior Vice President of IDG Ventures India.
"We are extremely proud to be associated with Forus through its Series A and Series B fundraises. The increased acceptance of 3nethra not only in India but internationally as well, makes Forus poised for a high growth trajectory. Global ophthalmic companies have just not focused on designing a product catering to the emerging markets and this is where Forus has excelled," stated Eric Savage, Co-Founder & President, Unitus Capital.
About Forus Health:
Forus Health Pvt. Ltd. (Forus) is a technology-led innovation company focused on preventive ophthalmic care. Its flagship products, 3nethra Classic and 3nethra Royal, can pre-screen for five ophthalmic ailments which collectively contribute to nearly 90% of the in blindness in India. Forus has seen widespread traction across the global and domestic ophthalmic community, with device installations in 14 countries across the globe.
For more information, please visit the Forus Health website at www.forushealth.com.
About Accel Partners:
Founded in 1983, and managing over $9.6 billion in capital, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel. Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful companies, many of which have defined their categories, including 99designs, Actuate, AdMob, Agile Software, Alfresco, Angry Birds (Rovio), Atlassian, BBN, Bonobos, Braintree, Brightcove, Cloudera, ComScore, Diapers.com (Quidsi), Dropbox, Etsy, Facebook, Fusion-IO, Gameforge, GlamMedia, Groupon, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, IronPlanet, JBoss, Kayak,Lookout, Macromedia, metroPCS, MoPub, OPOWER, Polycom/PictureTel, Playfish, Portal Software, QlikTech, Rapt, Real Networks, Redback, Responsys, Riverbed, Spotify, Squarespace, SunRun, Trulia, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, Wonga, XenSource and Zimbra.
In India, Accel has made investments in companies such as Ace Creative Learning, Babyoye, Collectabillia, EduPristine, enStage, Flipkart, FreshDesk, Forus Health, HealthcareMagic, Kirusa, Mitra Biotech, MuSigma, Myntra, Perfint, Power2SME, Probe, PropTiger, QwikCilver, SureWaves, TaxiForSure.com, Trivone, Vinculum and Virident.
For more information, please visit the Accel Partners website at www.accel.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/accel.
About Asian Healthcare Fund:
Asian Healthcare Fund (AHF) is a New Delhi based growth-stage, healthcare focused, private-equity fund that invests exclusively into India's healthcare and life sciences sectors. AHF was founded in 2010 on the principle that healthcare as a sector is unique in terms of its investment and management complexities and as such is a sector that requires a specialized approach. AHF invests across India's healthcare sector, and is focused on companies that are into direct healthcare delivery, indirect healthcare services, medical devices and equipment, diagnostics, specialized manufacturing and bio-pharmaceutical R & D services. One of the unique differentiators AHF is its strong team consisting of experienced professionals with diverse and complementary backgrounds. Specifically two senior members of the team have each spent 25 years plus building and scaling up differentiated businesses in the healthcare/consumer industry leading to a deep domain expertise in healthcare, strong business building and operational skillsets and understanding of entrepreneurial mindsets. Other members of the team have the experience of private equity investing in India over multiple economic cycles. The combined team has an extensive network in the healthcare and related industries in India and global markets. Existing investments by AHF include Mydentist and Healthspring.
For more information, please visit the Asian Healthcare Fund website at www.asianhealthcarefund.com.
About IDG Ventures India:
IDG Ventures India is a US$ 150 Million early-stage venture capital fund investing in technology-related product and services companies. The fund is part of IDG Ventures, a global network of technology venture funds with over $6 billion under management, over 220 investee companies and 10 offices across Asia and North America. IDG Ventures makes investments on behalf of its Limited Partners, including its principal investor and sponsor, International Data Group (IDG), the world's largest IT media company. By combining the IDG platform - an unparalleled combination of global publishing, market research (IDC), and conferences and exhibition resources - with years of hands-on experience in early-stage company building, IDG Ventures helps its investee companies understand their markets better and penetrate them faster than their competition.
Leading technology companies that IDG Ventures has invested in globally include BabyCenter, F5 Networks, Netscape, Service Metrics and VA Linux in North America and Baidu, Ctrip, Sohu, Tencent and VinaGame in Asia. Our India portfolio consists of Perfint Healthcare, Agile, Apalya, Aujas Networks, ConnectM, eShakti, Firstcry, iCreate, i-Prof, iViZ, Kreeda, Manthan Systems, Myntra, Ozone Media, Sourcebits, Valyoo, vServ, Zivame and 3DSoC.
For more information, please visit the IDG Ventures India website at www.idgvcindia.com.
Primary Media Contact: Chandrasekhar, [email protected], 91-80-41624041
Secondary Media Contact: Donny Thomas, [email protected], 91-80-41624042
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