RECENT UNICORN, PHARMEASY’S PARENT API HOLDINGS ACQUIRES THYROCARE, IN TALKS TO GO PUBLIC

The traditional Pharma sector faced several challenges with the onset of the pandemic, however, making the digital shift wasn’t too distant. The Indian startup system recognized this opportunity and adopted digital commerce during the pandemic. The e-pharma sector has been quick to adapt, which typically derive the bulk of their revenue from selling prescription medicines to chronic patients. PharmEasy, an online healthcare and medicine delivery platform was founded in 2014 by Dr. Dhaval Shah & Dharmil Sheth. With an aim to build a healthcare ecosystem in India which impacts every stakeholder – patient, doctor, pharmacy, pharmacist, diagnostic labs, and other service providers, & integrating technology to cater to these stakeholders, PharmEasy was born. The Mumbai-based startup has come a long way from connecting local pharmacies & registered medical vendors, improving the supply chain of pharmaceuticals to offering services such as teleconsultations & diagnostic test sample collection. 

With recent funding of $350M led by Prosus Ventures (previously Naspers Ventures) and US-based private equity firm TPG Growth in API Holdings, the parent company of PharmEasy, it has attained the status of a Unicorn being valued at $1.5 Billion. Earlier this year, the company closed in on the acquisition of rival – Medlife, thereby becoming the largest health-tech platform in India. With plans to digitize existing pharmacies by connecting them to an efficient supply chain, the e-pharma platform aims to expand its base of pharmacies to 120k in the next year and take that number to 200k over the next two years. On June 17th, the online pharmacy received an investment of $20M from Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital, giving them a minority stake in the company. This brings the valuation of PharmEasy up to $1.8 Billion, with Tiger Global in talks to infuse primary capital into PharmEasy’s parent API Holdings. Apart from this, the company has conducted ESOP buybacks worth $13M in total over the last three months with this sector becoming extremely competitive with the entry of Tata Group, Reliance & Amazon in the digital pharmacy space. Planning to go public, PharmEasy is in talks with bankers with respect to its IPO plans. Another recent milestone for the parent company of PharmEasy, API Holdings which was announced yesterday (June 25th, 2021) is acquiring a majority stake (66.1%) in Thyrocare Technologies Ltd. at a price of Rs 1,300 per share, aggregating to Rs 4,546 crore. The acquisition shall be made by Docon Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of API Holdings. 

Siddharth Shah, CEO, API Holdings commented in a press statement, “We are delighted to be partnering with Thyrocare. We will provide a world-class customer experience in diagnostics, rivalling our pharmacy experience by leveraging technology, and building on top of the massive scale and truly pan-India presence of Thyrocare. It is our aim to deliver all outpatient healthcare products and services to every Indian within 24 hours.” With a customer base of over 1 million patients for pharmany & diagonostic needs through their brand RetailIO & 30,000 consultations conduction through their consultation & EMR platform, DocOn, monthly, the company has a network of over 6000 digital consultation clinics & over 90,000 retail partners across the country. The statement further said – “The collaboration between PharmEasy and Thyrocare is unique and transformative for the Indian healthcare sector, consumers and the entire healthcare ecosystem. The synergies of both, India’s largest digital health platform and one of the largest, cost-effective diagnostics solution providers (by volume) will reimagine and accelerate the delivery of high-quality diagnostic and OPD services across the full continuum of patient care to nearly 800 million Indians.” 

Speaking on the strategic acquisition, Dr A Velumani, Chairman and MD of Thyrocare, said, “I am excited about this relationship, unique of its kind in Indian healthcare industry. The unique reach and strength of Thyrocare in diagnostics, blended with young and dynamic team of PharmEasy, will bring in better healthcare solutions for common man nationwide.” This relationship is going to help PharmEasy compete with big conglomerates such as Tata Group & RIL and retain its place in the med-tech space in India. With Covid disrupting consumer behavior & making technology an indispensable part of our lives, the company is clocking in INR 300 Crore monthly in revenue. 

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