How a school computer lab ignited a billion-rupee startup

Abhinav Lal's passion for computers was ignited in 1998 when his Jharkhand school acquired a computer laboratory. Hours spent at the laboratory assured him that a career in math and computers was his calling. But, oh dear, he could not manage to get into any decent coaching institute to study for IIT entry. Thus, post-12th, he took the second best opportunity that befell him and enrolled in NITK Surathkal in 2005. It was here that he met Shashank ND, who is currently co-founder and CEO at Practo.

During their first year of college, Lal and Shashank were members of the entrepreneurship club 'Euphoria'. Their first event was a trip to the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, for an event where one of the main speakers was Ajit Balakrishnan, founder of Rediff. "We liked when he spoke about building a product and a company," Lal recalls. That encouraged the two to organize similar events.

In the process, they also gained insight into the nuances of starting a company from scratch. There existed a college club called NITK STEP that aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in students. Lal and Shashank, third-year B.Tech students, and a few friends began product development as part of this club in 2008. But, nearly all of those products were "utter failures". This was also the time when the public market crash had occurred.

It was also during this time that Shashank's father underwent a surgery, for which he had to consult several doctors in several hospitals, where he was exposed to the enormous shortcomings of the healthcare sector. Doctors were still prescribing on pen and paper in order to maintain medical records, bills, etc. Yes, the founders were aware of that business opportunity, and by late 2008 had developed a software that would assist doctors in running their practices over the web, an offering which today people refer to as Practo. It was a low-cost, web-based healthcare solution that automated and simplified back-end admin tasks for healthcare practitioners, including appointment management, billing, and inventory management. The product flew out in no time.

But the founders were not satisfied as they thought "it was a very badly built one". The founders decided to rebuild it from scratch in January 2009. The software built from scratch was launched a couple of months later at a big dental conference in Bengaluru. The couple had worked 15-16 hours a day to get ready for the conference but day one was bad as nobody showed up.

But Lady Luck smiled the following day. One doctor purchased it and 100 others wished to purchase it. Abhinav's following test was trying to convince his mother to let him start his business. After she agreed, the founders requested some of their friends to join in and began operating Practo from Shashank's house in JP Nagar, Bengaluru. This was in July 2009. The company was registered and named Practo at that time. "The name Practo had started with practice automation," he informs. They also hired their first team of employees — students from their institute and the RV College of Engineering. The next two years "were a blur" — round-the-clock trips to clinics, selling and polishing the product and doing it all over again every day. While Lal and two others spent their time crafting code, Shashank and the rest were out there — selling.

By December 2009, Practo had about 500 clients in Bengaluru and set out a rough plan of expansion. One member of the team would go to one city, sell the product, and if successful, he would establish a small team there. The next team member would go to the next city. And so on.

No time was taken by Practo in expanding itself in Chennai and Mumbai. By 2010, it had 1,500-2,000 clients. Currently, almost 85% of its revenues come from India business and the balance from other nations, where it has been selling software to clinics and hospitals for 10+ years and has recently launched its doctor discovery marketplace platform in the UAE.

Practo was bootstrapped until 2011. Prior to that, it was incubated in Morpheus Accelerator, where it got to know a pool of investors. It raised its first capital of `25 crore in 2012 from Sequoia. "We still have the print screen of a bank account showing the newly infused money." The company has taken a total of $228.85 million in funding in six rounds so far.

Until 2012, Practo had 30 staff members and 10,000 doctors (users). They had reached a stage where they were capable of creating what they had always wanted — a consumer app. Having taken the doctors online, having made them use technology and open up their calendars, now it was time to improve health care for consumers. "The last 10 years have all been about plugging the gaps."

And now, Practo's B2B is software solutions to hospitals and clinics, and B2C is doctor discovery and appointment booking for minor to severe illnesses, online consultations 24×7, and healthcare plans on a membership model.

PeakXV-backed digital healthcare player will be listed soon and announced its first full-year profit in FY25 driven by 25–30% Y-o-Y growth in its core business.