Pharmacy startup PharmEasy has raised nearly $350 Mn in what is been described as a pre-IPO funding round. The news about PharmEasy’s latest funding was broken by The Economic Times. The Mumbai-based startup, according to reports, is just days away from filing its DRHP with regulatory body SEBI.
PharmEasy’s nearly $350 Mn funding round includes a secondary component. The company has raised almost $200-$205 Mn through primary funding. The primary funds were infused by slew of marquee investors including Amansa Capital, Blackstone backed hedge fund ApaH Capital, OrbiMed and SteadView Capital.
The company has raised remaining funds, i.e. nearly $150 Mn, through secondary round. However, not much is known about the secondary round, apart from the fact that few early investors have sold their stake while IIFL’s tech fund has picked up some stake. ET has also reported that almost 20 employees have bought shares worth $5 Mn as part of the secondary sale.
This year has proven to be a revelation for PharmEasy. Not only PharmEasy earned the distinction of becoming the first Pharm Startup to achieve the unicorn status, it also made an high-profile acquisition. It acquired a highly successful listed company Thyrocare Diagnostic. This acquisition deal was a historic one given that this was the first time that an emerging startup acquired a popular listed company. The deal also allowed the company to diversify its business and foray into the highly lucrative diagnostic space.
India’s online pharmacy space has shaken up during the last one year. While Reliance acquired NetMeds in August last year, Tatas acquired a controlling stake in the e-pharmacy startup 1 MG in a bid to build its supper app. The outbreak of COVID has surely bode well for this nascent industry.