Mumbai-based online pharmacy Pharmeasy’s parent company API Holdings, has raised $350 million (around Rs 2,750 crore) in the latest Series E round of funding. The company is estimated to be valued at $1.5 billion post the deal.
The funding was led by new investors Prosus Ventures and US-based private equity firm TPG Growth. Existing investors, Temasek, LGT Lightrock, Eight Roads, Think Investments and CDPQ, also participated in this round.
While $323 million in funding has already been received, another $27 million would be closed soon. Sources told the Economic Times that the capital would be in the form of primary and secondary funding. This makes it the third company to enter the unicorn club this week, along with the Bengaluru-based Cred and Meesho.
“I am particularly proud that we have been able to not only provide consumers with much faster and easier access to the healthcare products and services they need, but that we have been able to do so by empowering and digitising 60,000 small pharmacy stores that provide such an essential service to the Indian public,” said Siddharth Shah, CEO of API Holdings.
With the fresh funding it has received, the company aims to reach 1,20,000 pharmacies in the next 12 months from the 80,000 it covers today. In the next two years, it wants to reach 200,000 pharmacies and expand beyond the 100 cities that it operates in at present.
Siddharth added that the company will continue to invest significantly in the supply chain as its model was to digitise existing pharmacies by linking them to an efficient supply chain.
Last year, API Holdings had acquired rival Medlife for a 19.59% stake in the company in a deal that was valued at $240 million.
India’s online pharmacy market has been witnessing a lot of activity. Reliance Industries has acquired a majority stake in Chennai-based Netmeds, Tata Group is in the concluding stages of acquiring a majority stake in online pharmacy 1MG, while Amazon has also forayed into this space.