Global chipmaker Qualcomm on Thursday said it has made a strategic investment in home healthcare company, Portea Medical, to help the firm scale its network and service delivery.
No financial details were disclosed.
The investment by Qualcomm Ventures (Qualcomm’s venture investment group) will help Portea address India’s expanding need for innovative and cost-effective solutions to tackle chronic disease management and geriatric care, a statement said.
“Technology is the pivot on which Portea’s care-offering is built. I am confident their (Qualcomm) technical expertise and guidance will help Portea become the focal point for technology-led solutions to tackle two of India’s biggest challenges — chronic disease management and support for the growing population of elderly in the country,” Portea Medical co-founder and CEO Meena Ganesh said.
After China, India has the second largest geriatric population in the world.
Also, according to an United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report, the number of people over 60 years of age in India will increase from 100 million in 2011 to 300 million by 2050.
Of these 300 million, 200 million are likely to be suffering from chronic ailments.
Portea’s services encompass geriatric care, postoperative care, palliative care and physiotherapy, and the company works in partnership with insurance companies, major hospitals and the medical community to offer a continuum of care to patients.
In December 2013, Portea had announced $ eight million in series A funding from Accel Partners and Ventureast.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.