China-based online pharmacy Dingdang Medicine Express received RMB600m ($89m) in series B funding yesterday from investors including SoftBank China Venture Capital, an investment vehicle for telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank.
An unnamed healthcare-focused fund jointly owned by pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm and investment bank CICC Capital also contributed to the round. CICC Capital also took part separately through an unnamed investment entity, as did investment bank CMB International.
Founded in 2014, Dingdang operates an online-to-offline platform enabling users to purchase medication. The company has also opened a range of brick-and-mortar pharmacies and employs delivery drivers to ship over-the-counter drugs to clients within 28 minutes.
In addition to medicine, Dingdang also offers herbal products, small medical equipment, cosmetic medicines and personal hygiene articles.
The company additionally provides an at-home medical service where nurses visit a patient to provide basic medical services such as injecting drugs and taking blood pressure.
The series B funding will go towards the opening of additional physical locations in new and existing markets across China. Dingdang also hopes to further diversify its business, though it did not provide further details as to how that might occur.
SoftBank China Venture Capital had previously supplied a nine-figure renminbi amount for the company in January 2018, after venture capital firm Tongdao Capital had provided $44.6m in series A funding in 2016.
