For 12 years, Archit Garg was investment banker at Milestone-Religare, which helped HCG Oncology become one of India’s largest private oncology chains. He was eager to start out on his own and, along with colleague Preet Pal Thakur, decided to draw on his experience in the health sector and launched Glamyo, a multi-specialty player which ties up with hospitals to provide patients a hassle-free experience for elective and cosmetic surgeries. It even has a concierge service where its coordinators address patient queries, help in pre-authorisation with insurers and once the date of surgery is fixed even escort the patient to the hospital and manage the discharge and subsequent follow-up, all for a fee which is built into the cost of the surgery. A software platform developed by the team offers patients step-by-step information till they recover fully. Glamyo, which started in 2019 with cosmetic, dental and ophthalmic surgeries, now offers 50 day care procedures. “Both in terms of the impact that we are making and the challenges that setting up a business presents, last 18 months have been most satisfying,” says Preet Pal Thakur, a doctor by training.
The founders set out to solve three problems. First was bad patient experience. Second was lack of funds for health expenses. Third was under-utilised capacity in hospitals in Tier-II and Tier-III towns.
“The ecosystem changes as more work comes to the hospital with under-utilised capacity,” says Garg.
The company is also getting enquiries from fintech companies for products so that people can pay for surgeries through EMIs.
“We add patient education to the mix and when we show the patient the video of a doctor talking about the surgery and its benefits and options, the patient gets confidence,” says Garg. In last 18 months, Glamyo has raised Series A funding of $7 million at a valuation of $20 million. It is also on track to raise funds for Phase II and is aiming for 10,000 surgeries a month and going from 16 to 30 cities in the country. — Gina Krishnan