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In traditional healthcare, the patient experience feels broken due to several reasons including non-transparency in pricing, delays in admission and discharge, etc. Also, hospitalisation costs and insurance documentation only make the forehead furrows grow. 

Additionally, 30 percent of India’s population–or 42 crore people–are devoid of any form of health insurance, with actual numbers estimated to be higher due to existing gaps and overlaps among various schemes, the NITI Aayog has said.

Having known each other for over 10 years and worked together at Milestone Religare Private Equity, 

Archit Garg and Dr Preet Pal Thakur thought about doing something to solve this problem. The duo launched Glamyo Health in February 2020.

Delhi-headquartered Glamyo Health is a multi-specialty healthcare startup that envisions delivering a hassle-free experience for all elective surgeries and cosmetic procedures with personalised care. 

Starting up

Archit Garg completed his MBA from Said Business School, University of Oxford. After his education, he started his career with Deutsche Bank in London and spent almost 12 years on the investing side with organisations including Milestone Religare, Quadria Capital, and Rabo Equity.

Dr Preet Pal Thakur completed his MBBS degree from Government Medical College, Patiala, and went on to work as a resident doctor with Fortis Healthcare. He went on to pursue an MBA from IIM Indore, and then worked with global investment bank JP Morgan, and venture capital funds including Milestone Religare PE Fund, Asian Healthcare Fund, and Alkemi Venture Partners. 

Archit met Dr Preet Pal while working at Milestone Religare Private Equity, and after 10 years of knowing each other, they thought of starting a new venture together. 

In 2019, they met frequently at cafes to discuss business ideas and came up with the idea of creating a full-stack healthcare platform to provide a seamless experience to the patients. 

Glamyo Health says it offers quality medical treatment, medications, and food at reduced or even half the market cost. The startup offers a single point of contact—from arranging consultations to post-surgery follow-ups—and delivers end-to-end services.

What does the startup solve?

Glamyo Health solves the following gaps in the market – 

• Information gap—by providing free and fair advice on the surgery through a team of 100 + medical coordinators.
• Access gap–by providing various value-added services including hassle-free admission and discharge, free pick and drop, free OPD consultations, and follow-ups for the patient.
• Financing gaps–Working with various financing stakeholders including insurance aggregators/EMI partners for arranging single-window clearance for patients for their healthcare financing needs.

“We are facilitating no-cost EMI options so that the patient does not need to bear any interest costs and they can pay for treatments in monthly instalments. For arranging this facility Glamyo Health has tied up with fintech players like Unofin, Shopse, Earlysalary, Liqui-loans, etc to facilitate loans to the patients at zero cost,” says Archit, Co-founder of Glamyo Health, during an interaction with YourStory.

Creating an OYO for hospitals

With a vision to make Glamyo health India’s leading healthcare delivery brand, the co-founders believe that their company is like an OYO for the healthcare network. 

“We utilise the free capacity of hospitals and surgeons. While there are 44,000 hospitals in India in the private domains, barring 10 percent being branded hospitals, most hospitals can utilise their OT (operation theatre) capacity to a mere 40 percent only. We target such hospitals and help them connect with the patients in their locality, creating a win-win situation,” states Archit.

This asset-light model has allowed the startup to scale to 16 cities with a network of 300+ hospitals and 200+ surgeons, and claims to have already touched the lives of 1,50,000 patients within 24 months of launch. It claims to cater to handle 40,000 patients enquiries each month.

Glamyo Health says its network spans 16 cities in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Chandigarh, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Mysuru, Madurai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Lucknow, Kochi, and Coimbatore.

“To date, we have recorded 4,00,000 patient traffic and 1,50,000+ patients have had counselling sessions with our medical coordinators. Our patient-centric model has made sure that we have an NPS (Net Promotor Score) of 75+. Over the next two years, we plan to grow to 45+ cities and arrange $100 million in patient financing,” adds Achit.

Business model and revenue

The startup offers minimally invasive laser treatments at low cost with the latest technology and type of equipment. 

The startup uses technologies like laser treatments for proctology and urology cases, and laparoscopic equipment for surgeries which helps in making surgeries minimally invasive surgeries. 

Speaking of affordability, Archit adds, “On an average, we charge 25 percent lower than other hospitals, however, it entirely depends on various factors like location, case, treatment, the facility required etc.”

According to Dr Preet, Glamyo Health controls the cost by negotiating the rates with hospitals as well as by limiting the usage of consumables.

“Additionally, Glamyo Health mostly conducts day-care surgeries, reducing the OT (Operation Theatre) charges and hospitalisation expenses. Apart from this, most of the surgeries are laser-assisted, thus ensuring lower cost than the traditional surgeries which involves a lot of equipment and consumable expenses,” he adds.

“Glamyo Health is focused on 50+ surgeries, ranging from minimally invasive gallstone removal to laser surgeries for proctology ailments like piles, fissures, fistula, and more. We offer these treatments in the best hospitals across India,” adds Archit

It offers low-cost treatment for piles, circumcision surgery, hernia, mole removal, cosmetic surgeries, Lasik and cataract etc

The startup earns a portion of the surgery fee after paying the hospital and the surgeon. 

Glamyo has tied up with almost 300 + hospitals which include Tier I chains including Apollo Hospitals, Manipal Hospitals, Sparsh Hospitals, and other standalone hospitals like IBS, Apex Hospitals, Parakh Hospitals, SRV Hospitals etc.

The healthtech startup has achieved a month-on-month growth of 25 percent in terms of revenue and claims to have closed FY 2022 with an ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) of $8 million. It aims to reach an Annualised Run-Rate of $80 million for FY 2023.

With a team size of 300 members, the healthcare startup is projected to grow to 600+ in the next six months. 

Speaking of competitions, Archit highlights, “We are a full-stack player and compete with Pristyn Care and a few others like Medfin and Ayu Health.”

Funding and the way ahead

At the time of starting, the company raised $1 million in a seed round in February 2020 and last year, the startup raised $6 million in their Series A funding round led by Ananta Capital, along with participation from Agility Ventures, Udtara Ventures etc. The startup is already in advanced discussions for their Series B fundraise.

Speaking about its future plans, Archit mentions, 

“Going forward, we aim to launch AI-powered counselling for patients. We are also planning to move into allied areas like diagnostics which help us in predictive analysis before anyone needs a surgery.”

The healthtech Industry is expected to grow by $50 billion in 2023. Secondary care healthcare in India is a $30 billion market and growing at 15 percent annually.