Global investment firm Carlyle has acquired a majority stake in Knack RCM and EqualizeRCM, two US-based healthcare revenue cycle management (RCM) providers, as reported by Mint and Hindustan Times. The transaction combines two complementary RCM operators to create what the companies described as an AI-native, multi-specialty platform serving physician groups, rural hospitals and durable medical equipment (DME) providers. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, with the investment being made through funds affiliated with Carlyle Asia Partners VI and Carlyle Asia Partners Growth II. According to BusinessWire India, the equity for the investment will come from investment funds affiliated with Carlyle Asia Partners VI (CAP VI) and Carlyle Asia Partners Growth II (CAPG II). Carlyle has $477 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2025, bringing significant financial backing to the healthcare technology sector.
According to Mint reports, Kapil Modi, Partner at Carlyle India Advisors, stated that the US healthcare revenue cycle market is growing rapidly, driven by margin compression, workforce shortages, and the shift to value-based care. The combined entity is expected to expand scale and delivery footprint across the US, India and the Philippines, while deepening capabilities in automation and analytics. Amit Jain, Partner and Head of Carlyle India Advisors, concluded that "One of the core tenets of this investment is to build a scaled, strategically attractive physician and rural hospital RCM platform in a fragmented industry." Carlyle has significant experience in scaling RCM platforms to achieve market leadership, with the firm having previously backed healthcare technology platforms including Indegene, Visionary RCM, and CorroHealth. The global investor intends to build on this platform strategy by pursuing additional opportunities in the RCM industry and will continue to seek to add synergistic assets with complementary offerings to the RCM platform.
As reported by Mint, Knack RCM, headquartered in Woodbridge, New Jersey, has over 8,000 employees across 10 delivery centres in India, the Philippines and the US. EqualizeRCM complements this with its delivery presence in the US and India, serving physicians, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centres, laboratories and rural providers. Both companies serve a range of specialty segments including DME, anaesthesia, eyecare, behavioural health, urgent care and multi-specialty physician groups. The combined platform is expected to enhance operational scale and diversification, broaden the delivery footprint, strengthen leadership depth and help accelerate AI capabilities to enhance outcomes for clients.
According to Mint and Hindustan Times reports, Knack brings a global delivery model anchored by its orchestration platform, Workmate, while Equalize adds payer enrolment capabilities and AI-driven tools such as Bill Smart for denial prediction. Equalize's platform, built on large language models and agentic AI, has seen commercial traction, including the displacement of large vendor contracts at DME manufacturers. Knack's CEO Gautam Barai noted that combining with Equalize allows them to tackle the most complex parts of the revenue cycle, including rural cost reports, DME intake, and challenging anaesthesia cases. As per BusinessWire India, Equalize's AI-native platform has demonstrated proven commercial traction, including the displacement of established, large-scale vendor contracts at leading DME manufacturers. Nagi Rao, founder of EqualizeRCM, emphasized that "Partnering with Knack enables us to integrate our advisory expertise with their advanced analytics and global operations, to deliver more robust and tailored solutions."
As reported by Mint and Hindustan Times, Rajiv Sharma, founder of Knack RCM, and Nagi Rao, founder of EqualizeRCM, will remain invested in the platform through a reinvestment of a portion of their proceeds. Carlyle has previously backed healthcare technology platforms including Indegene, Visionary RCM, and CorroHealth. The investment represents the firm's track record of executing similar strategies in sectors such as auto components and pharmaceuticals, with plans to build a scaled, strategically attractive physician and rural hospital RCM platform in a fragmented industry. Carlyle intends to build on this platform strategy by pursuing additional opportunities in the RCM industry and will continue to seek to add synergistic assets with complementary offerings to the RCM platform.
