Medlife Raises $15.5 Mn From Wilson Global Opportunities Fund For Growth

Bengaluru-based epharmacy Medlife announced on Wednesday (December 18) that it has raised $15.5 Mn (INR 110 Cr) from Wilson Global Opportunities Fund in a debt funding round.

Medlife will be utilising the funds towards the development of technology, marketing, employee expenses and to support the future growth of the company, according to media reports.

Founded in 2014, the company was started by Tushar Kumar and Prashant Singh. In August 2019, ex-Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan joined Medlife as the cofounder and CEO. The company started its journey as an inventory-led epharmacy company which helps doctors digitally manage and store patients records.

In an earlier interaction with Inc42, Naryanan had said that the company is planning to raise external funding to continue the next stage of growth, where the company was looking to raise about $150 Mn over the next six months.

Currently, the company claims to service over 20K deliveries every day across 29 states and 25 pin code locations. As of March, the company claimed to have crossed INR 1K Cr plus run rate. In the next financial year (FY20), it expects to achieve overall sales of INR 1.5K Cr with an exit run rate of INR 2K Cr. The CEO said that in the next 12 to 18 months, the company will achieve breakeven in terms of unit economics.

Previously, the company had raised $17 Mn (INR 118.95 Cr) in an equity funding round from founder Tushar Kumar’s family trust, Prasid Uno Family Trust. Initially, the company began with an initial investment of $15 Mn and later received $30 Mn from family capital, angel investors and promoters. Since inception, the company has run its business in a bootstrap mode and has raised funds through Kumar’s family trust.

In August 2019, Medlife was reportedly in talks with pharmaceuticals company Cipla to raise funds, where it said to invest up to INR 150 Cr to INR 170 Cr.

In terms of mergers and acquisitions, the company has made a quintessential amount of investments in the recent past. In May 2019, Medlife acquired Bengaluru-based medicine delivery pharmacy startup Myra Medicines for an undisclosed amount. In February 2019, it acquired digital healthcare platform and a ‘diagnostics at home’ services startup Medlabz. Last year, the company acquired Mumbai-based EClinic24/7.

As per Inc42 DataLabs, there are more than 4,800 active healthcare startups in India. Last year, there was an overall increase of 45.06% in total investments made in healthcare startups. Between 2017 to 2018, the number of investment deals witnessed a 40.51% decline from 116 to 69 deals. Overall, healthcare startups raised $504 Mn, the report stated.

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