Lightspeed may lead $50-60 million round in healthcare company Qure.ai

Venture fund Lightspeed, through its growth fund, is set to lead a $50-60 million deal with Qure.ai, which provides artificial intelligence-based decision support tools for diagnostic images, people aware of the matter said.

This would be the third major deal from Lightspeed from its growth fund after having invested in quick-commerce firm Zepto and edtech company PhysicsWallah. The PhysicsWallah deal is yet to be formally announced. The funding in Qure.ai is likely to include a secondary share sale as well and is being finalised and will close within this month, people who know about the matter told ET.

Qure.ai was a nominee in the Top Innovator category at The ET Startup Awards 2021.

“Lightspeed is investing around $20-25 million and is looking to buy some in secondary share also. Overall, the round may end up being $50-60 million in size depending on the final secondary component,” a person aware of the matter said. “Existing investors will also put in primary capital.”

In a secondary share sale, the capital doesn't go to company coffers as it changes hands between two investors.

Started in 2016, Qure.ai has undertaken a significant shift in its client focus and most of its revenue now comes from overseas, a person in the know said. Chest X-ray reporting, TB care, lung nodule management and heart failure are some of the core areas where physicians use its AI services to understand and finalise diagnosis and treatment for patients. It works with companies and not consumers directly.

Qure.ai chief executive Prashant Warier and Lightspeed declined to comment on the deal.

Fractal Analytics-backed Qure.ai, since inception, has raised around $60 million and was last valued at around $233 million, per Tracxn that tracks startup funding data. It counts Peak XV Partners, Healthquad, Novo Holdings and MassMutual Ventures among its investors.

“The deal also marks growing activity from Lightspeed, especially in growth stages. It has been competing aggressively for many deals this year,” another person aware of the matter said.

Lightspeed has backed startups like Razorpay, Udaan, Acko and Darwinbox. The fund invested in Sarvam AI in one of the largest early-stage rounds in December last year.

Based in Mumbai, Qure.ai reported revenue of Rs 91.3 crore in fiscal 2023 along with a loss of close to Rs 78 crore, as against Rs 39.3 crore and Rs 24 crore, respectively, the previous fiscal year.

Last month, Qure.ai said it secured its 12th patent in India from the Indian Patent Office for “a system and method for detecting lung abnormalities in a medical image”. Globally, it has 29 patents, the company said at the time.