October–November 2025 marked a decisive shift in capital flows into healthcare. After several years of exuberance, experimentation, and valuation-led bets, investors are now demonstrating far greater discipline. The signal is consistent across geographies: capital is gravitating toward scale, predictable cash flows, and operating models that can compound over time.
Globally, healthcare dealmaking crossed US$55 billion in October alone, driven by large-cap acquisitions that prioritised platforms over individual assets. In India, total funding was a far more modest US$97.6 million, but nearly 77% of this capital went into late-stage deals, underscoring a clear preference for execution-ready businesses. Volume may have softened, but the quality of capital has sharply improved.
This divergence—global mega-deals on one hand, focused consolidation in India on the other—reveals where healthcare investing is heading next.
Global Healthcare M&A: Platform Thinking Takes Over
The most consequential global transactions of the period were not about short-term growth spikes. They were about long-term category ownership.
When Novartis agreed to acquire Avidity Biosciences for approximately US$12 billion, the market read it correctly as a platform bet on RNA therapeutics. This was less about any single molecule and more about securing a foundational capability that can be applied across multiple disease areas over time.
Similarly, Novo Nordisk’s US$5.2 billion acquisition of Akero Therapeutics strengthened its strategic position in metabolic disease adjacencies, including NASH and MASH. These are not opportunistic expansions; they are deliberate attempts to dominate therapeutic ecosystems with long-duration patient value.
The broader takeaway is simple but essential. Global healthcare capital is moving away from binary pipeline risk and toward platforms that offer optionality, repeatability, and strategic control. In a tighter capital environment, that distinction matters more than ever.
India’s Deal Market: Less Noise, More Signal
India’s healthcare deal landscape during the same period tells a complementary story. Deal counts were lower, and headline numbers were restrained—but capital allocation was far more purposeful.
Funding concentrated around speciality care chains, healthcare services infrastructure, and payer-adjacent platforms. Investors showed limited appetite for experimentation and far greater interest in businesses with demonstrated unit economics, clinical throughput, and operating leverage.
This shift reflects a maturing market. India’s healthcare sector is no longer being evaluated purely on growth potential. It is being assessed on its ability to scale responsibly, deliver consistent margins, and withstand scrutiny from institutional capital.
Narayana Health’s UK Acquisition: Exporting Execution, Not Just Capital
The standout Indian transaction of the period was Narayana Health’s ₹2,200 crore acquisition of Practice Plus Group hospitals in the UK.
On the surface, this appears to be a geographic expansion. In reality, it is a strategic repositioning.
Practice Plus Group operates surgical and diagnostic centres designed to absorb NHS overflow, delivering high-volume, standardised procedures under tight cost and governance constraints. This operational environment aligns closely with Narayana Health’s core strength: process-driven, high-throughput surgical delivery.
Three business drivers stand out.
First, revenue visibility. NHS-linked contracts provide predictable, long-term cash flows.
Second, operational leverage. Narayana’s systems approach to surgery, staffing, and procurement is directly portable.
Third, strategic credibility. This acquisition elevates Narayana from a domestic scale player to a global healthcare operator.
This is not a defensive move. It is a statement that Indian hospital chains can compete internationally—not by undercutting on price alone, but by exporting disciplined execution at scale.
Ophthalmology and the Rise of Speciality Platforms
If Narayana Health represents global ambition, Verlinvest’s US$75 million investment in The Eye Foundation highlights domestic consolidation dynamics at work.
Ophthalmology has emerged as one of India’s most investible healthcare verticals. The reasons are structural rather than cyclical: high SOP maturity, predictable procedure volumes, and strong operating margins driven by cataract, LASIK, and retina services.
What makes The Eye Foundation attractive to institutional capital is not novelty, but repeatability. The chain has demonstrated a scalable, mid-premium model across cities, supported by brand-led patient acquisition and operational consistency.
The implications extend beyond a single deal. Capital entry at this scale signals consolidation ahead. Smaller centres will increasingly face pressure to affiliate, merge, or specialise. The trajectory closely mirrors what dental chains experienced five to seven years ago—rapid multi-city expansion, technology-enabled workflows, and increasing brand dominance.
What the Capital Is Really Saying
Across both global and Indian markets, the message from investors is consistent.
Healthcare capital is no longer chasing growth at any cost. It is backing businesses that can deliver scale with control, expansion with discipline, and ambition with accountability. Platforms, speciality networks, and execution-led operators are winning capital allocation decisions.
For founders and operators, this means the bar has risen. Storytelling alone is insufficient. The market now demands evidence of throughput, margin stability, and governance readiness.
Conclusion
Late 2025 marks a turning point for healthcare investing. Globally, capital is consolidating around platforms that promise long-term leadership. In India, investors are rewarding speciality care networks and hospital operators that have proven their ability to scale efficiently.
The Narayana Health–Practice Plus Group acquisition and the Verlinvest–Eye Foundation investment are not outliers. They are early indicators that the healthcare sector is entering its next phase—one defined less by experimentation and more by execution, consolidation, and international competitiveness.
For business leaders and investors, the implication is clear: the era of disciplined healthcare capital has begun.
