BENGALURU: Pharmacy chain Pharmeasy will raise over Rs 2,000 crore at a valuation of $500-$600 million, a significant drop from its valuation of $5.6 billion in 2021. Manipal Group will invest 50% of the total funding, sources told this newspaper.
The announcement will be made official next week. Sources also said the company is in talks with two-three more shareholders and the actual amount of fundraising, valuation and investors will be confirmed in a few days. Pharmeasy is an API Holdings-owned omnichannel pharmacy chain. As per reports, Manipal Group’s family office might become the company’s single largest shareholder after its investment in Pharmeasy.
Earlier this year, US investment firm Neuberger Berman cut its valuation to $4.4 billion. In November last year, API Holdings had withdrawn its draft red herring prospectus due to volatile market conditions.
Though the health tech start-ups had seen exponential growth during Covid period, many start-ups are now facing harsh funding winter. It has struggled to find investors in the past few quarters and if the funding round materialises, it will see its valuation plummet to $500 million-$600 million.