PharmEasy secures $350 mn in pre-IPO round at $5.6 bn valuation: Report

By Ankit Agarwal

  • 18 Oct 2021
Credit: 123RF.com

E-pharmacy unicorn PharmEasy has raised about $350 million in a pre-IPO financing round ahead of filing its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) at a post-money valuation of $5.6 billion.   

According to an Economic Times report based on the regulatory documents filed by the company, the round has been a mix of both primary and secondary financing.   

Over Rs 1,500 crore ($204 million) has been raised in primary financing from Singapore’s Amansa Capital, hedge funds ApaH Capital, Neuberger Berman and Janus Henderson, OrbiMed, Steadview Capital, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ and London’s Sanne Group.   

Amansa Capital has put almost Rs 370 crore in the round, while Sanne Group has invested over Rs 443 crore. Besides, Steadview Capital has chipped in Rs 110 crore, the filings said. 

Janus Henderson-managed funds have invested close to Rs 100 crore, while ADQ has put around Rs 74 crore, the filings showed. New York-based Neuberger Berman and others have invested the rest of the money.   

The Economic Times report said existing investors such as Fundamentum, Eight Road Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners along with early angel investors are likely to sell partial stakes to company’s founders and senior employees, among others.   

PharmEasy, among the 33 unicorns that have emerged during 2021, has raised the maximum amount in funding (about $955 million) since January.   

During the year, it has made three acquisitions. After acquiring its rival Medlife in May, it bought listed diagnostic chain Thyrocare for $600 million in June.  

It also bought cloud-based hospital supply chain management startup Aknamed at a reported enterprise value of Rs.1,000 crore.    

It has also been reported that the company is close to buying controlling stake in pharma-focused inventory and accounting software firm Marg ERP Ltd.  

The pre-IPO round shall pump the company’s valuation by close to 40% from $4 billion to $5.6 billion within five months.   

PharmEasy’s founders, Siddharth Shah, Dhaval Shah, Dhramil Sheth, Harsh Parekh and Hardik Dedhia, have also been granted 9,987 new stock options each ahead of the IPO, according to the documents.    

Last month, it had added five new independent directors to its board and received board approval to convert itself into a public company from a private entity.