Healthtech Startup SaveIN Aims a Five-Fold Growth Based on Building Partnerships

SaveIN, a company which strives to provide embedded financing to cover costs related to medical procedures performed in a network of healthcare providers, will concentrate on partnerships to increase its market share.

Healthcare related costs keep on growing

Healthcare related costs are continuously growing, so finding financing solutions becomes increasingly important for patients.  

In 2019, National health expenditures in the US grew 4.6% to $3.8 trillion and were projected to increase at an annual rate of 5.4 percent and reach $6.2 trillion by 2028. The biggest spending is related to hospital care, physician services and prescription drugs, the cost of inpatient and outpatient care being the main impacting factor. Lowering pricing and containing costs is critical to the Nation’s health, as well as its fiscal and economic well-being. Periodic surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation reveal that half of the U.S. population goes without healthcare due to concerns over costs, and one-quarter of those who receive care have financial hardship with paying medical bills.

In this context, financial solutions such as those SaveIN provides could become actual life savers.

The CEO of SaveIN, Jitin Bhasin, stated that it is now time for the consumerization of healthcare, adding that SaveIN intends to “democratize how consumers access private healthcare.”

He claimed that SaveIN is seeing “hyperbolic growth” and aims to become a trusted on-demand healthcare network. “We are addressing the issues around the three pillars of healthcare access, quality, and affordability. So, SaveIN is being developed as a fully integrated ecosystem that is designed to address these problems “explained Bhasin.

Within a year of its start, SaveIN grew its footprint to about 3,000 healthcare partners

The platform offers coverage of costs related to about 300 medical procedures and treatments for numerous health issues, including hair, dermatology, dentistry, alternative therapies like Ayurveda, ophthalmology, wellness, and fitness. In 100 cities, the healthcare-focused fintech business SaveIN is accessible at centers.

“In the coming year, we expect to grow by 5X and are trying to expand our network to 15,000 health practitioners, clinics,” Bhasin stated. Within a year of its start, SaveIN grew its footprint to about 3,000 healthcare partners (including clinics, healthcare providers, doctors, fitness centers, and alternative therapy centers), after adopting a digital-led partnership expansion strategy.

In the future, SaveIN will keep putting partnerships first to increase its influence in the healthcare industry. SaveIN has helped people who wanted to get financing for healthcare products and services across partner locations since its inception, processing over 1 lakh customer applications, according to Bhasin.

The company is looking at 5 times growth, he said. Patients seek financial support for various expensive treatments, such as hair transplant, body sculpting, weight loss, anti-ageing and feature correction procedures, smile designing, dental aligners, orthodontic treatments, lasik surgeries, diabetes reversal, physical training, yoga and fitness subscriptions.

“We allow people to borrow up to Rs 2 lakh in a completely paperless, 100 per cent digital, fully compliant model with the RBI guidelines on digital lending in partnership with NBFC,” Bhasin said. Customers can choose payment plans, and SaveIN facilitates upfront payment to the doctor. SaveIN charges commission from these healthcare partners. 

Health data analysis can improve public health

SaveIN platform also captures, on consent basis, data sets to risk assess and quality assess practices.

Health data, if properly analyzed, can help improve public health. By collecting and analyzing data, healthcare organizations can use their findings to create public health awareness campaigns and work toward healthier communities. Health literacy is an important issue and it’s crucial for organizations to have accurate, up-to-date information that is easy for people to understand.

Another way to help with healthcare costs is business process outsourcing (BPO), outsourced business activity designed to help medical companies become more cost-effective by outsourcing repetitive, manual and redundant tasks to external providers who manage all these tasks.

MarketsandMarkets, a market research firm based in Maharashtra, India, estimates that global healthcare BPO will reach almost $470 billion by 2026 from about $296 billion in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 9.6%.

The Y-Combinator backed start-up has raised a total of $8 million in nine months

Bhasin said SaveIN is currently well-capitalized and is not looking for new financing. Gurugram-based Healthcare-FinTech start-up SaveIN raised more capital riding on the rapid growth that the company has demonstrated in the first year of its launch. The Y-Combinator backed start-up has raised a total of $8 million in nine months, making it one of the larger early-stage rounds among Indian start-ups in the year 2022. 

“We are well capitalized and have raised arguably the largest seed round among healthcare-fintech startups and that too in 2022 which was the most difficult year for venture capital investing. Having said that, we are growing aggressively and see a very large market opportunity,” Bhasin said. The startup is positive on unit economics basis, which means it makes money on every new sale.

Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurugram, Chennai are leading cities when it comes to consumption, according to Bhasin. “We have also seen good take up rate in tier-1 and tier-2 centers,” he added, pointing out that 70 per cent of the customers are between 25-45 yrs of age. 

“With our B2B2C go-to-market approach, our customer acquisition costs are low and that supports our unit economics profitability. We anticipate introducing other revenue streams in the upcoming year, “Bhasin continued. According to Bhasin, SaveIN complies with the Central Bank of India’s Digital Lending Standards.

 “We are set up as a Lending Service Provider and collaborate with regulated lending organizations that have received RBI approval (REs). We have several NBFCs operating already, and we are currently integrating with other regulated businesses like banks “Bhasin concluded.