Posted on November 30, 2012

Omidyar Network Emerges as Key Player in India's Affordable Care Industry

Since 2009, Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, has committed nearly $100 million in support of social ventures in India and has emerged as a key player in the country's affordable healthcare industry, the New York Times reports.

Based in Redwood City, California, the seventeen-year-old Omidyar Network, which has been working in India to improve access to affordable healthcare services by providing early stage funding to Indian entrepreneurs, plans to invest tens of millions of dollars more in the industry over the next two years.

To that end, ON committed a total of $16 million to seven early stage healthcare deals in 2012 and plans to invest an additional $15 million next year, the Times reports. In addition to direct investments in healthcare delivery companies, the network has invested in two "feeder funds": the Song Fund — a $17 million partnership backed by Google and the Soros Economic Development Fund — and Elevar Equity, which supports two private equity funds valued at $94 million that invest in India and Latin America.

"Growth in this sector can help a large number of people gain convenient access to health care at a reasonable cost," Omidyar Network director of investment Jasjit Mangat told the Times. "Plus the technology and business-model innovations that are emerging in this sector have a huge export market potential."