We stand at a dynamic crossroads where shifting global power dynamics, enduring technological breakthroughs, and turbulent economic markets are reshaping the world. At W Health Ventures, we are excited to present our annual initiative—an in-depth exploration of emerging opportunities within these macro trends, pinpointing how the Indian healthcare ecosystem can strategically capitalize on them in the coming financial year.

Here’s what we think the FY26 could promise:

1. India will emerge as a key player in the GLP-1 market: With the impending expiry of Novo Nordisk’s patents for Wegovy and Ozempic in 2026, India is gearing up to produce generic versions of the “miracle” GLP-1 drugs.  We anticipate that Eli Lilly’s recent announcement to introduce Mounjaro – the brand under which it markets Tirzeptatide – for the Indian market will catalyze the clinical research and manufacturing activities within the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Players like Sun Pharma have already begun releasing data on their pre-clinical research for novel GLP-1 drugs, such as Utreglutide. Investments in GLP-1-led companies – manufacturing, formulation, and patient-facing care delivery alike will multiply in 2025. This will be fueled by Indian players looking to capture value at stake through competitive pricing in the domestic market (Glenmark’s Lirafit, priced at INR 100 per day, 70% lower cost vs previous formulations, is seeing strong uptake in India; Mounjaro is priced at INR ~4300 for a weekly 5mg vial in the absence of a generic tirzepatide offering as yet) and rising global export demand (Biocon has partnered with Tabuk Pharmaceuticals in the Middle East for distributing its liraglutide product, Saxenda).

2. Newer areas of single-specialty healthcare will scale beyond single-physician-led practices: Single-specialty chains in India have attracted ~$1.1B in private funding between 2022-2024. The last few years have seen massive deals among traditional scaled assets such as BPEA EQT’s 60% acquisition of Indira IVF (150+ clinics) at a valuation of $1.1B, Quadria’s $103M investment in Nephroplus (900+ centers), and Chryscapital’s $100M investment in Centre for Sight (85+ centers) in 2024. As treatment options evolve and patient preferences continue to change, we expect to see newer single specialties such as oncology, pain management, psychiatry, and aesthetics thrive, with an additional $4-5B expected to flow into these segments over the next couple of years. What makes these segments investable is asset-light retail format (15-50 beds), minimal overlap with hospital infrastructure, significantly enhanced patient experience and personalized patient journeys with multiple touchpoints. From our portfolio, Nivaan Care, which runs asset light pain management clinics, recently announced its seed round of $4.25M that would allow them to expand rapidly across multiple geographies.

3. Healthcare start-ups will see increasing M&A activity: Funding for Indian healthcare start-ups remains close to half the average levels in 2021 and 2022, and 70% of early-stage companies have not raised a round since then. Consequently, a large number of healthcare start-ups that have low cash reserves will become lucrative acquisition targets. Additionally, revenue multiples in private markets are trending 60% lower vs 2022, making acquisitions more attractive for buyers with acqui-hiring as the preferred model. Acqui-hiring works for the buyer for multiple reasons: no immediate payout, expansion of service lines, and access to high-quality and experienced talent. We foresee more such transactions in FY26, including acquisitions via our portfolio companies.  In the last year, we have seen a similar trend in our portfolio, including Reveal Healthtech acqui-hiring Manifold and Wysa’s merger with April Health.

4. Leading Hospital chains will lean toward small format facilities for expansion: Around 90% of hospitals in India are small and medium-sized hospitals (SMHs) that are typically under 200 beds. These hospitals generally experience lower occupancy rates (40-50% vs. 65-70% for large hospitals), 40-50% lower average revenue per operating bed (ARPOB), higher operating costs, and tough competition from larger chains. Interestingly, those large chains no longer want to build 600-700 bed facilities anymore and want to cater to micro markets and make healthcare hyperlocal. In line with this strategy, we expect large chains to continue expanding through brownfield expansion of struggling SMHs in FY26.

5. Oncology is set to witness a surge in entrepreneurial activity: Oncology is becoming a key revenue contributor for large Indian hospital chains, growing from a meagre 7% in FY17 to 15-25% of revenues now. In the past, investments from such chains were the only avenue for single-doctor-led facilities to professionalize, raise capital and scale e.g. HCG-Manavata grew 30x in revenue after the Joint Venture. However, in the last two years, start-ups in Oncology (e.g. Karkinos, MOC, Cion, Cytecare, etc.) have seen ~$40M flowing into them from venture capital and have also seen interest from downstream growth investors. We, in partnership with Narayana Health, have launched Everhope Oncology with the goal of establishing medical and surgical oncology facilities in Delhi and Mumbai.  

With increasing interest in the space and early signs of breakthrough growth demonstrated by some startups, in FY 2026 we anticipate many more entrepreneurs, medical and surgical oncologists foraying outside hospitals to start or expand facilities and create new business models. Such deep vertical focus will also lead to better adoption of AI/ Tech solutions and wraparound care that will improve cancer prognosis and enhance patient experience. In short, we will see more investments in the space and treatment modalities like CAR-T will become more commonplace.

6. Companies operating in India/ US corridor will be investors favourite again – but with an AI layer on top: India has built multi-billion-dollar companies by providing either services, such as Healthcare-IT (e.g., CitiusTech) and Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) (e.g., Sagility), or software (e.g., Innovaccer) to the US. Now, with AI-native platforms, such healthcare services can garner higher, software-like margins. AI agents are expected to become commonplace in these service workflows, for instance, “logging into” EHRs to not only file claims but also appeal denials – replacing tasks done by humans. However, SaaS companies that merely “add” AI features, such as LLM enabled chatbots, to existing solutions will not make the cut.

FY26 will see the emergence of more nuanced AI first software for US from India where either complex high-volume data will be analysed (e.g. remote patient monitoring, diagnostics, etc.) or vast up-to-date knowledge will be consumed (e.g. care navigation, clinical decision support tools, etc.) to create solutions. We’ve already seen green shoots with companies deploying in the US (e.g. Qure AI, Wysa, Twin Health, etc.) – benefitting from cost-effective India based development. As expectations grow for AI to drive more billion-dollar outcomes for Indian companies, we anticipate renewal of investor interest in such cross-border start-ups in 2025-26.

7. Healthcare Global Capability Centers (GCCs) will break barriers backed by big budgets: Healthcare and life sciences companies like Sanofi, Amgen, Eli Lilly, and MSD have committed ~$500M in investments to create 20k+ new jobs through their GCCs in India. We expect this recent momentum to continue in FY26 as the figures for investment and jobs created will approach $1B and 50k new jobs, driven by upcoming national and state incentives for GCCs. We also predict that healthcare GCCs will transform from traditional back-offices to value-creators. The focus will be on hiring personnel for drug development, clinical trial support, and AI development, not limited to IT, call-centre, etc. Additionally, Tier 2 destinations in Madhya Pradesh, UP, and Gujarat are poised to challenge the status quo on GCCs established by Hyderabad’s Genome Valley and other Tier 1 cities.

8. Emerging India will spend more on looking younger and living longer:
India’s aesthetics market, valued at $1.6B, is growing at 13.3% annually. Approximately 1 million cosmetic procedures are performed each year. Over 40% are high-priced surgical procedures (INR 50k-3L+) like liposuction, rhinoplasty, hair transplants, and breast augmentation. Outside of core aesthetics i.e. looking younger, we’ve seen Indian billionaires also betting on living longer. With GLP-1s becoming the talk of the town and longevity guru Bryan Johnson making a trip to India – we anticipate consumers will become well-informed and accept these new-age (and expensive) clinical solutions. Healthy unit economics (65-80% gross margins) will allow start-ups to price aggressively and tap into the share of wallet of a more significant number of Indian consumers in FY26.

9. Healthcare Quick-commerce will be quick to shut down: The surge in MAUs (monthly active users) on quick-commerce platforms like Blinkit (24M) and Zepto (17M) validates a growing demand for instant delivery and evolving consumer behaviour. Healthcare in India traditionally has been slow to change, but big names in q-commerce as well as startups are trying to shake things up. Swiggy partnered with Pharmeasy, and Bigbasket with 1mg to deliver medicines in 10 mins. Apollo 24/7 launched 19-minute delivery in select cities, Zepto started pilot of 10-min medicine delivery and E-commerce giants like Flipkart are also entering the space. A similar trend is playing catch-up across other healthcare segments like diagnostics, reducing sample collection time to less than an hour, and emergency care (e.g. Blinkit launched 10-min ambulance service in Gurugram), bringing down average response time to under 10 min.

As competition intensifies in the pharmacy quick-commerce space, players will likely compete on delivery speed and discounts with neighbourhood pharmacies leading to significant cash burn; in line with the trend seen for large q-commerce players. Operational complexities such as inventory management for millions of drug SKUs and regulatory compliances will add to the burn. By the end of 2025, we anticipate that at least a few q-commerce healthcare players will lose this race. And the real questions will remain – except critical patients, does anyone really need medicines in ten minutes.

With realism restored in the venture ecosystem, we believe Indian startups firmly focused on building fundamentally sound businesses for these (and many more) opportunities on the healthcare horizon will be the most exciting to watch out for.