India-based, corporate-backed online pharmacy operator PharmEasy has closed a pre-initial public offering round sized at up to $344m, the Economic Times reported today, citing regulatory filings and people privy to the matter.
The round valued the company at $5.6bn and included about $204m in primary funding from Amansa Capital, ApaH Capital, Janus Henderson, OrbiMed, Steadview Capital, ADQ, Neuberger Berman and Sanne Group, all of which also acquired secondary shares from early investors.
The secondary transaction was sized between $130m and $140m and included some 20 senior team members purchasing a total of $5m in shares, sources told ET. PharmEasy founders paid about $40m to buy shares, while financial services group India Infoline also invested.
Founded in 2015, PharmEasy has built an online medicine marketplace that helps users buy prescription drugs, consumer health products and medical tests.
The company’s overall funding stood at over $650m as of a $350m primary and secondary round in April 2021 co-led by Prosus Ventures, a corporate venturing arm of internet group Prosus, and TPG Growth at a $1.5bn valuation.
Investment and financial services group Fidelity’s Eight Roads Ventures unit filled out the April round with Temasek, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), LGT Lightrock and Think Investments.
PharmEasy parent API Holdings had received more than $320m in total as of a $220m round led by Temasek in late 2019 valuing it at $700m. Eight Roads, CDPQ and LGT Lightrock participated, as did financial services firm KB Financial Group and returning backers Bessemer Venture Partners and Orios Venture Partners as well as Fundamentum Partnership and Nandan Nilekani.
PharmEasy’s earlier shareholders include another Fidelity subsidiary, F-Prime Capital, as well as education services provider Manipal Education and Medical Group, insurer Medi Assist Healthcare Services, healthcare supply chain group Ascent Health and Wellness Solutions, Fundamentum Partnership, JM Financial, Aarin Capital, Astarc and Trifecta Capital.
