Exactly a year ago, The Eye Foundation—a 40-year-old eye-care chain based in Coimbatore—raised external equity for the first time. Its choice of investor, though, was rather unusual. 

Most of its competitors had gravitated towards healthcare-focused private-equity funds, such as Temasek, Blackstone, TPG, and KKR, which have collectively invested over $15.5 billion in healthcare in India over the last five years. Of this, 60% went to hospitals. 

The Eye Foundation, on the other hand, chose the consumer-brands-and-retail VC fund Verlinvest, which has backed the likes of yogurt........

© The Ken