Indian healthcare booking and telemedicine platform Practo has revamped its management structure. Effective September 1, 2026, Jagnoor Singh was promoted from COO to CEO, with founder Shashank ND stepping back to Managing Director and Chairman. Who, when, what — Practo, founded in 2008, has handed the CEO seat from its founder to a professional manager. Why it matters — this handover is being framed together with a planned 2027 stock listing (IPO) and a push into AI and overseas expansion. It's a concrete example of when a healthtech company aiming for profitability and a listing chooses to reshape its management.
Jagnoor Singh joined Practo as COO in January 2025 and has now been promoted to CEO. He has held senior roles at Bharti Airtel, Unacademy, and OYO. The overhaul goes beyond the CEO change: co-founder Siddhartha Nihalani becomes COO for B2C, Rowel Coelho becomes COO for B2B, and co-founder Abhinav Lal becomes Chief Scientist. Rather than the founders stepping away, they remain as chairman and in a research role while day-to-day execution is entrusted to an externally hired executive.
Practo, founded in 2008, operates a digital health platform where patients can find and book doctors, have online consultations, order medicine, and book lab tests. It connects more than 700,000 doctors across more than 2,400 cities worldwide, and also runs 40 co-branded dermatology clinics. Financially, it posted FY25 revenue of ₹234 crore (2.34 billion rupees; based on the ≈¥1.66 per rupee rate as of September 2026, approximately 3.88 billion yen) against operating EBITDA of ₹15 crore (150 million rupees, approximately 249 million yen). In the prior year, FY24, it posted revenue of ₹240 crore (2.4 billion rupees, approximately 3.98 billion yen) against an EBITDA loss of ₹17 crore (170 million rupees, approximately 282 million yen). It has swung from loss to profit and has stayed profitable for two and a half years while growing 40% annually.
This overhaul is positioned as laying the groundwork to support overseas expansion, a focus on AI, and a planned 2027 listing. Practo is reportedly in talks to raise $100 million to $125 million (based on the ≈¥155 per dollar rate as of September 2026, approximately 15.5 billion to 19.375 billion yen; valuation of approximately 108.5 billion yen) at a post-money valuation of about $700 million. Its cumulative fundraising to date is about $230 million (approximately 35.65 billion yen), with backers including Peak XV Partners, Sofina, Thrive Capital, and Capital G. It's a division of labor where the founder keeps the business vision as chairman while entrusting execution toward the listing to a professional manager.
Inc42 reported this handover as a strengthening of Practo's management ahead of a planned listing. The promotion to CEO, the founder's move to chairman, the split B2C/B2B COO structure, and the track record of 40% growth with two and a half years of profitability are all covered with concrete figures. What stands out is that this is treated not as a founder's departure, but as a restructuring of roles.
Indian startups continue to see founders step back from the front line and hand execution to professional managers. Swiggy's co-founder Nandan Reddy stepping down and BigBasket's co-founder departure and stronger parent-company control show growth companies moving from founder dependence into their next phase. In healthcare, there is also Honasa's pharma acquisition, where the parent of a beauty D2C brand buys a network of dermatologists to expand into the health market, and the trend of restructuring management and assets ahead of a listing or business expansion is overlapping across the board. Japanese companies partnering with Indian healthtech should check, at each point of transition, who actually holds execution.
The fundraising activity ahead of a planned 2027 listing also overlaps with fintech's Moneyview's IPO filing. Ahead of a listing exit, the trend of putting both management structure and capital in order is progressing across sectors.
Japanese companies considering partnerships or deals with Indian healthtech should, as with Practo, work out who actually holds business decision-making power when founder and top executive roles are split. As a next step, it's worth putting together a one-page summary of a partner candidate's current management structure and whether a listing is planned, and updating the point-of-contact decision-maker every time there's a transition.
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