PharmEasy Appoints Avendus Capital For Next Funding Round

Online pharmacy unicorn PharmEasy has reportedly appointed Avendus Capital to raise equity funding. The move comes as its existing investors plan to infuse fresh capital to shore up the company.

Prosus Ventures, Temasek Holdings, CDPQ and TPG are looking to invest up to INR 250 Cr into PharmEasy, Mint reported citing sources. Avendus might also look for external investors for fundraising.

PharmEasy is looking to raise up to $100 Mn (INR 824.64 Cr) in the current round. The company raised capital internally as well. In October 2022, PharmEasy initiated a rights issue to potentially raise INR 750 Cr from its existing investors, calling off its IPO plans in FY23 citing adverse market conditions.

Avendus was also the advisor for the epharmacy major’s September 2018 Series C funding round worth $50 Mn.

The funding comes when PharmEasy needs to raise funding to meet a key covenant in the loan extended to the unicorn by the US-based lender Goldman Sachs. Earlier this month, media reports suggested that PharmEasy had to raise up to INR 1,000 Cr ($120 Mn) in equity as part of its March 2022 loan agreement with Goldman Sachs.

PharmEasy has reported operational EBITDA profitability, excluding ESOP costs. This allowed the online pharmacy major to negotiate a smaller equity raise than the INR 1,000 Cr with the lender. The unicorn is said to raise INR 250 Cr to meet the loan covenant, with the rest to meet working capital requirements.

PharmEasy reportedly borrowed INR 2,280 Cr ($285 Mn), from Goldman Sachs in August 2022 to pay off an earlier debt it had incurred from Kotak Mahindra Bank to buy Thyrocare. The loan was said to be a five-year arrangement, attracting an annual interest rate of 17-18%.

There is interest to acquire PharmEasy’s subsidiary Thyrocare. However, the founders are resisting that the business has become a strategic asset for the unicorn.

In June 2021, PharmEasy’s parent API Holdings acquired a 66% stake in Thyrocare for INR 4,546 Cr, the key reason the epharmacy raised debt from Kotak Mahindra Bank and then Goldman Sachs.

During the year ended March 31, 2022, PharmEasy’s revenue from operations grew to INR 5,729 Cr from INR 2,235 Cr in FY21. Its losses were at INR 2,731 Cr in FY22 against INR 641 Cr in FY21.

The online pharmacy unicorn’s investors Neuberger Berman and Janus Hendersen marked down its valuation to $2.8 Bn earlier this month, amid an ongoing valuation markdown season for Indian unicorns.

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