NephroPlus eyes bigger growth in dialysis space

Hyderabad: City-based NephroPlus, which operates a chain of 26 dialysis centres across 10 states, is looking at a bigger growth in the dialysis space as it draws up plans to take the network to 150 centres over the next four years.

“We set up the company four years ago with just one dialysis centre in the city and with an investment of around Rs 1 crore. At present, we have presence across 10 states with a network of 26 centres. Our next aim is to expand the network to 150 centres,” Vikram Vuppala, the company’s Founder and CEO, told The Hans India.

A Chemical Engineering graduate from IIT-Kharagpur, Vikram did his MBA from the Chicago University, before working in the global healthcare industry for over 12 years. However, he returned to India in August 2009 with a passion to provide quality healthcare services here. Though he explored various opportunities available in the country, he zeroed in on the dialysis and kidney care space.

“There are over 70,000 dialysis centres in the US that take care of patients with renal problems, who need dialysis thrice a week to survive. But India, which is the diabetic capital of India, had a handful of centres when I returned, and most of them were run by hospitals,” he recalled.

Taking inspiration from the US experience where majority of centres are run by pure play entities, he founded NephroPlus with a single centre and an investment of Rs 1 crore in March, 2010. Sandeep Gudibanda, an MBA graduate from Indian School of Business (ISB), and Kamal D Shah, who did his chemical engineering from OU and has been surviving on dialysis since 1997, joined hands with him in this endeavour.

The company’s maiden dialysis centre was an instant hit and its success encouraged him to go on an expansion drive. But the fund crunch was the main challenge for this budding entrepreneur. However, US-based Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), impressed by the success of the first centre, came forward to invest $4.5 million (nearly Rs 25 crore) in the company in 2011.

“We used these funds to expand our network to 26 centres spread across 10 states. We also increased our employee strength to 500 now. At present, we provide dialysis services to 1,600 patients regularly, at the affordable charges ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per session,” he said.

Recently, the company raised $10-million (about Rs 59 crore) in Series B funding from International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank arm, and BVP. “We will utilise these funds to expand our network to 150 centres with total headcount of over 5,000. Our goal is to provide services to 20,000 patients,” he said. The company invests anywhere between Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore for each centre. Some of the centres are standalone while majority of them are set up at third party hospitals.

According to him, India is a highly under-served market for dialysis services. “India is home to 10 lakh people who need dialysis regularly to stay alive. Only 10 per cent of them have access to dialysis services. So, there is huge growth opportunity for pure play dialysis entities like NephroPlus,” he said.