Senior citizens care provider Athulya Senior Care is gearing up to position itself as a full-spectrum geriatric care provider with the launch of its own hospita as it embarks on a funding round of around $30 million to meet its financial goals.
While Athulya is currently in the segments of assisted living and home care, it will get into hospitals with the launch of its own fully integrated geriatric care hospital in Vadapalani, Chennai, in June.
“We are also going for a $30 million fundraise this year; we’ll go to market probably three months from now, and we expect this round to also take us closer to the listed story,” Karthik Narayan, Founder and Managing Director, Athulya Senior Care, said in an interaction with businessline. It will likely be a global institutional investor such as a sovereign fund as they have clear allocation on social impact investments especially senior care, he added. The company raised around ₹100 crore from a Morgan Stanley managed PE fund in 2023.
Founded by Karthik Narayan, Srinivasan G, and J Krishna Kavya in 2016, Athulya offers assisted living and other similar care services to senior citizens.
Athulya, which recorded revenue of ₹85 crore in FY26, expects it to grow to ₹125 crore in FY27, maintaining a 30-40 per cent annual growth rate. It is also profitable. The funding support will go towards ambitious expansion plans from 1,500 to 3,500 assisted living beds, and from one to 10 hospitals, Narayan said. India faces a severe shortage in senior care infrastructure, with only 20,000 beds available against an estimated requirement of 400,000, he points out.
Athulya has served over 45,000 senior citizens through its network of centres across Chennai, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Kochi, and Hyderabad, and finds demand for their services to be rising due to the rise of nuclear families, ageing demographics and seniors increasingly choosing assisted living for companionship and safety.
Two large initiatives are shaping this industry, said Narayan. NABH, the National Accreditation Board for Healthcare Providers, now has an accreditation standard for geriatric care services, he added. The second is is that the insurance sector is now reimbursing home care services, he adds.
Bodies such as the Association of Senior Living India have also been in discussion with policymakers for GST rationalisation, he points out, adding that a national policy on senior citizens is also in the works.
However lack of policy standardisation, shortage of skilled workforce and limited regulatory clarity, continue to be challenges that the overall industry is trying to address, he added. To address skill gaps and talent shortage, Athulya operates an National Skill Development Corporation-approved geriatric care training academy that trains around 2,200 students annually.