Pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) is set to acquire a 2% stake in India-based, corporate-backed online pharmacy PharmEasy, VCCircle has reported.
Competition Commission of India has approved the deal, which will involve CDPQ paying an undisclosed amount to API Holdings, the parent company of PharmEasy.
Founded in 2015, PharmEasy runs an online pharmacy that sells pharmaceutical products, medical testing kits and prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
PharmEasy is in the process of raising an amount between $300m and $400m through a rights offering that could reportedly value it at $1.2bn. Prosus Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of internet and e-commerce group Prosus, is reportedly set to invest up to $200m in the company as part of the deal.
The company had raised $220m in a late 2019 round led by Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek and backed by CDPQ, financial services group KB Financial Group and Fidelity, the latter through its Eight Road Ventures unit.
The round included Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), Fundamentum Partnership, LGT, Orios Venture Partners and private investor Nandan Nilekani.
Eight Road Ventures had participated in a $50m round for PharmEasy in September 2018 with another Fidelity unit, F-Prime Capital, as well as Fundamentum Partnership and Think Investments.
BVP led PharmEasy’s $30m series C round six months earlier, investing alongside education services provider Manipal Education and Medical Group, JM Financial, Orios Venture Partners and Trifecta Capital.
Pharmaceutical retailer Ascent Health took part in a $16m round for the the company in 2017 and was joined by Astarc Ventures, Orios, Trifecta Capital and various private backers. Insurer Medi Assist Healthcare Services, Ascent Health, Aarin Capital, Astarc, BVP and Orios had provided $5m the year before.
