1mg acquires MediAngels

Online pharmacy and digital healthcare venture 1mg today acquired MediAngels, the platform for super specialty consultations and corporate healthcare. The terms of the deal were undisclosed. This is the second acquisition for 1mg this year, in July, the Sequoia backed company acquired Medd, a diagnostics and imaging tests marketplace.

Earlier this year, 1mg had raised its Series B funding of Rs 100 crore in a round led by Maverick Capital Ventures and additional funding from HBM Healthcare Investments. MediAngels was meant to bring topmost super specialist doctors with everyone reach using technology. With more than 450 super specialist doctors across 93 specialists, MediAngels has seen several cases in cardiology, cancers, neurosurgery, orthopedics and pediatrics subspecialties, witnessing traction from both metros and tier II cities.

MediAngels was used extensively by enterprises for second opinions for auditing and understanding healthcare needs. A recent collaborative study by MediAngels and a major private health insurer for knee replacement surgeries across India found that 18 percent of the knee replacements were either not needed or could have been dealt with before surgery became the only option left. In such cases, the patient is happy avoiding the pain of surgery and the enterprise as a payer saves money. The company already has the backing of most top insurers and several corporates, who have enrolled for the service for second opinions and employee health benefits.

With its entry into the online doctor consultations, e-pharmacy and diagnostics space, 1mg will now have to compete with a mix of different players, one of the prominent ones being Sequoia-backed Practo. The e-pharmacy space is already crowded with players like Netmeds, mChemist, Medd, DeliMedi, CareOnGo and MediDali. With its acquisition of Medd, the team forayed into the diagnostics segment, and now, with MediAngels, the team is aggressively looking to push into the B2B segment with players like Health Assure and MAR Plus.