Healthcare-focused wearables’ brand GOQii, has announced that it has raised a Series B funding round led by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (“Mitsui”), one of Japan’s largest Conglomerates and one of the most active healthcare investors globally. An Economic Times report pegs the raised amount anywhere between $30Mn-$35Mn, valuing GOQii in the vicinity of $100-$125 Million.
The round also saw the addition of several new investors including Galaxy Digital, a leading blockchain merchant bank which largely invests via its Galaxy EOS VC Fund, and Denlow Investment Trust — a leading LP in several consumer and tech-focused funds globally.
Existing investors of the company NEA, DSG Consumer Partners, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, and Ratan Tata, have also participated in this funding round. Further, along with investing in the company, Mitsui and GOQii have agreed for a joint collaboration.
The newly raised funding will enable GOQii to penetrate further across India and will also help the company make an entry into Japan. Given its ageing population and focus on preventive healthcare, Japan is ripe for the entry of players like GOQii, says the company.
Koji Nagatomi, COO of the Healthcare & Service Business Unit of Mitsui, said:
This Investment is an important step in achieving our vision of being ‘Asia’s #1 Healthcare Ecosystem’. GOQii’s product offering is highly complementary to our portfolio of healthcare investments in India and Globally and we see several areas of immediate collaboration between us and GOQii… Upon GOQii’s entry into the Japanese market, we will seek cooperation between GOQii and our affiliated companies to realize our ambitions.
Vishal Gondal, CEO of GOQii, said:
We are very excited to partner with Mitsui to drive the next phase of our growth. There are several areas of potential collaboration and our respective teams will drive an aggressive roadmap to deliver our goal of Reimagining Healthcare Globally! Along with the power of Mitsui, our goal is to be the dominant healthcare platform for millions of users globally and empower them with a better lifestyle and healthcare solutions and be the force of good.
While the company has not revealed how much capital it has raised in this Series B round, several reports indicate that GOQii has raised around $30-35 million, valuing the company at around $100-125 million. However, this is yet to be verified by the company.
The incoming capital will also be used by the company for talent acquisition and headcount addition as well as for marketing and geographical expansion. The company will further strengthen its big data analytics & artificial intelligence platform to drive actionable insights and to provide a holistic view of a user’s health.
GOQii was founded in 2014 by serial entrepreneur Vishal Gondal with an aim of empowering consumers globally to lead healthier and better lives. The company’s smart tech-enabled healthcare platform brings together the entire preventive healthcare ecosystem including tools for real-time personalized coaching, an explosive high-growth Health eCommerce store, scheduling health check-ups. It has also introduced a health locker and a unique ‘GOQii Cash’ program where healthy behaviour is also rewarded with cash discounts.
The company is currently looking to cash on increasing health consciousness and growing awareness about healthy lifestyle among the urban folks. As for the company’s financials, according to the documents filed with the RoC, it reported total revenue of Rs. 11.43 crore for the financial year that ended on 31st March 2018. The startup’s loss increased by nearly 24% to reach Rs 19.63 crore.
