Online pharmacy startup PharmEasy raises $350 million as it gears up for an IPO

• PharmEasy’s parent company API Holdings has raised about ₹1,505 crore as fresh issue, while another ₹1000 crore comes from secondary sale.
• Steadview, Amansa Investments, SARV Investments, Neuberger Berman Emerging Markets Equity Funds participated in the round.
• The company is said to be underway to file its DRHP soon in order to flag off the public issue.

Online pharmacy startup PharmEasy has reportedly raised $350 million or about ₹2,600 crore ahead of its initial public offering (IPO). The company is said to be underway to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) soon in order to flag off the public issue.

According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) filings accessed by Business Insider, PharmEasy’s parent company API Holdings has raised about ₹1,505 crore ($200 million) from 15 marquee investors — including Steadview, Amansa Investments, SARV Investments, Neuberger Berman Emerging Markets Equity Funds and others.

Meanwhile, an Economic Times (ET) report, citing sources, highlighted that the company has raised another $130-140 million (upto ₹1050 crore) in a secondary issue, which offered exits to early backers of the company. Nearly 20 senior employees have bought shares worth $5 million as a part of the secondary share sale, the report added.

The company is now valued at $5.6 billion, as per the ET report.

PharmEasy’s founders — Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah, Harsh Parekh, Hardik Dedhia, and Siddharth Shah — have also picked up shares worth $40 million in this funding round, as per sources.

Business Insider has reached out to PharmEasy seeking more details about this funding round.

The online pharmacy startup, founded in 2014, caters to the chronic care segment and offers a range of services such as teleconsultation, medicine deliveries, and sample collections for diagnostic tests. It also operates a business-to-business (B2B) pharma marketplace with over 6,000 consultation clinics with 90,000 partner retailers pan India.

Earlier this year, PharmEasy acquired publicly listed Thyrocare, which is a chain of diagnostic and preventive care laboratories. Thai acquisition opened up the doors for API Holding’s public listing.

According to media reports, PharmEasy plans to raise $1.2 billion in its IPO.

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