Karen K.’s Post

🦄 Another Indian Unicorn bites the dust recently. And it’s PharmEasy- the online Pharmacy- which has raised $210mn (Rs 1804 crore) at a 90% Valuation cut - Their last Series F Round Valuation was $5.6 Billion on October 2021 - Current $710mn Valuation is almost same as their Series D round ($700mn Valuation) on November 2019 According to a report by Entrackr: - Ranjan Pai’s Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG family office) led the round with $93mn while Prosus, Temasek, and 360 One Portfolios pumped in $26mn, $22mn, and $23mn, respectively.  - CDPQ Private Equity, WSSS Investments, Goldman Sachs, and Evolution Debt Capital cumulatively participated with $46mn in the new investment. Earlier PharmEasy paid $927M for Thyrocare in June 2021 and $144M for Aknamed, a supply chain management platform for hospitals and medical manufacturers, in Sept 2021. Here is a brief of PharmEasy Valuation by Round: - Series C-II- $150mn (Sept 2018) - Series D- $700mn (Nov 2019) - Merger- $1.2bn (Aug 2020) - Series E- $1.5bn (Feb 2021) - Unattributed VC- $1.8bn (June 2021) - Secondary Market- $5.6bn (Oct 2021) - Series G-II- $710mn (Apr 2024) It’s quite obvious that this new funding will result in the promoters being diluted way more than they ever hoped to be but the best part is that the company survived and might have another shot at success. Other notable players from India in this Online Pharmacy space are 1mg acquired by Tata and Netmeds acquired by Reliance Industries. IC: CB Insights ~~~~~ ♻️ Found this helpful? Repost it so your network can learn from it, too. And follow me, Fazlur Shah for more content like this. #startups #entrepreneurship #venturecapital #investing

PharmEasy — Not So Easy 💉💊👇 ……………..,,,, PharmEasy investor cuts value of its stake drastically, implying new valuation of $456M The asset manager’s Global Research Fund had originally spent $9.4 million to acquire these shares. This valuation is 92% less than PharmEasy’s all-time-high price tag of $5.6 billion. The persistent low valuation comes despite PharmEasy securing more than $200 million in fresh capital earlier this year, and while it’s preparing to file for an initial public offering next year. PharmEasy had raised $417 million through the rights issue, according to its co-founder Dharmil Sheth. A regulatory filing in April 2024 showed the startup had secured about $216 million. The startup, backed by Prosus Ventures Temasek TPG and B Capital operates one of the largest online pharmacies in India. Janus Henderson Investors’ valuation of its stake implies that PharmEasy is now worth much less than the $600 million it had paid to acquire diagnostic lab chain Thyrocare Technologies Ltd. in 2021. PharmEasy has raised over $1 billion to date. The startup’s financial challenges emerged after it deferred an $843 million IPO planned for November 2021. It then turned to debt financing, including a $300 million loan from Goldman Sachs, which proved problematic as the company struggled to repay those loans and raise new equity in a deteriorating market. https://lnkd.in/g_TeXvhh via TechCrunch

Pharmeasy, a prominent player in India's health-tech sector, has seen its valuation dip from $1 billion to $500 million. The drastic reduction comes as the startup faces hurdles in raising funds amid stiff competition from rivals like Apollo Pharmacy. Market experts cite operational inefficiencies and a saturated market as contributing factors. Despite these challenges, Pharmeasy is restructuring its operations and optimizing costs to attract potential investors. #Pharmeasy #HealthTech #IndiaStartups #StartupValuation #FundingNews

Pharmeasy, a prominent player in India's health-tech sector, has seen its valuation dip from $1 billion to $500 million. The drastic reduction comes as the startup faces hurdles in raising funds amid stiff competition from rivals like Apollo Pharmacy. Market experts cite operational inefficiencies and a saturated market as contributing factors. Despite these challenges, Pharmeasy is restructuring its operations and optimizing costs to attract potential investors. #Pharmeasy #HealthTech #IndiaStartups #StartupValuation #FundingNews

$456M: PharmEasy's New Valuation After Investor Takes a Hit. The Changing Landscape of Indian Startups   India's startup ecosystem has witnessed dynamic shifts in recent years, with health tech emerging as a focal point. Among the prominent names, PharmEasy has stood out, revolutionizing how people access medicines and healthcare services. However, a recent event has cast a shadow on its growth narrative: an investor write-down that now pegs PharmEasy's valuation at $456M. This development has sent ripples through the health tech industry, stirring questions about its future trajectory. The $456M valuation comes as a stark contrast to PharmEasy's earlier unicorn status. Once hailed as a game-changer, this adjustment underscores the challenges faced by Indian startups in sustaining their lofty valuations amidst global economic turbulence. Despite this setback, PharmEasy's story is far from over. Understanding the nuances of this development requires a deep dive into its funding journey, market positioning, and the broader health tech trends.     How Did PharmEasy Reach Here? A Funding Timeline   PharmEasy’s journey from inception to becoming a household name in India has been marked by aggressive expansion and substantial funding rounds. Founded in 2015, the company initially aimed to bridge the gap between pharmacies and consumers through a seamless digital platform. Over the years, it attracted significant investor interest, with global and domestic firms pouring capital to fuel its growth. In 2021, PharmEasy reached its peak with a valuation exceeding $5 billion after acquiring Thyrocare, a diagnostic chain. This strategic acquisition was a pivotal moment, as it solidified PharmEasy’s position as a comprehensive healthcare provider. However, the narrative took a turn in 2023, as market realities began to weigh heavily. The latest investor write-down, resulting in a $456M valuation, highlights the challenges of sustaining growth in a capital-intensive industry. A closer look reveals that the company's reliance on external funding and market pressures may have contributed to this recalibration.     The Investor Write-Down: What Does It Mean?   An investor write-down typically signals a reduced expectation of a company’s future profitability or market potential. In PharmEasy's case, this adjustment was driven by multiple factors, including declining market sentiment, financial performance, and macroeconomic headwinds. This $456M valuation represents a significant departure from PharmEasy’s unicorn status, marking a reality check for stakeholders. For investors, it’s a moment of reckoning—an acknowledgment that their earlier bets on health tech startups may not yield the returns once anticipated. For PharmEasy, the write-down is both a challenge and an opportunity to revisit its strategy. https://lnkd.in/dFnnSQNB

𝗣𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 $𝟰𝟱𝟴 𝗠𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗛𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 API Holdings, the parent company of online drug marketplace PharmEasy, has seen its valuation cut to $458 million. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝟵𝟮% 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗼𝗳 $𝟱.𝟲 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭. PharmEasy’s investor and global asset management company Janus Henderson slashes the company’s valuation by marking down its investment value by 91.8%, the filing accessed from SEC shows. This comes as a surprise as PharmEasy in April said it had launched a rights issue to raise about $417 million. The rights issue, which allows existing investors to buy new shares in the firm at a much lower valuation, was oversubscribed, PharmEasy co-founder Dharmil Sheth said in a LinkedIn post. See the full story at tech crunch below. #startups #startup #startupfounders #startupfunding #angelinvestors #startuppitch #pitchdeck #pitchdecks #vcs #vcfunding #pharmeasy https://lnkd.in/dxC9pgth

The famous startup losing it's unicorn status? API Holdings, the parent company of online drug marketplace PharmEasy, has seen its valuation cut to $458 million. This is around a 92% valuation markdown from its peak of $5.6 billion in 2021. PharmEasy’s investor and global asset management company Janus Henderson slashes the company’s valuation by marking down its investment value by 91.8%, the filing accessed from SEC shows. In April, PharmEasy saw a 90% haircut in its valuation when it raised Rs 1,804 crore ($216 million) led by Ranjan Pai’s Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) and existing investors. The Mumbai-based firm has been trying to raise around Rs 3,500 crore to repay the debt it took from Goldman Sachs. The Dharmil Shah-led firm already defaulted on its loan terms with Goldman Sachs in June 2023. Around the same time, Janus Henderson reduced PharmEasy’s valuation by around 50%. Citing adverse market conditions, PharmEasy also deferred its initial public offering plan even after filing draft IPO papers. The firm filed DRHP in November 2021 and pulled back its listing plan in August 2022. Recently, Gupshup’s investor Fidelity marked down the SaaS firm’s valuation to $500 million. The company was valued at over $1.4 billion in its last equity funding. Swiggy, Byjus and a few other hyper-funded companies also saw valuation markdown by their investors in 2024. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the firm posted a 16% year-on-year growth to Rs 6,643 crore revenue in FY23 while the losses for the Temasek-backed company surged 30.5% to Rs 5211 crore in the same period. The company is yet to file its annual statements for FY24.

Pharmeasy has raised $210 Million at a $710 M valuation. In 2021, it had raised $350 M in a "pre IPO" round at a valuation of $5.6 Billion. When Pharmeasy acquired 66% in Thyrocare (a 30 year old, strong and profitable diagnostics chain) for INR 4546 Cr, everyone in the startup space (particularly VCs) danced around citing a "miraculous triumph" of Indian startups. They claimed that this news marked that Indian startups had finally "come of age" and that the startup scene had "arrived". And then what happened? A tragedy. Not just for Pharmeasy, but also for Thyrocare and Dr. Velumani (its founder), when it was revealed that Pharmeasy wouldn't be able to pay back its loan to Goldman, and that it's valuation would be cut by 90%, totally screwing Dr. Velumani's investment of about 1500 Cr in the company when it was valued at about $4 B. So, much like Byju's, Pharmeasy acquired a much older (and profitable, and even bigger) company in real terms, and then took it down with it. But that's not real story, folks. What is real the story? The real story is that if 2021's bull run had continued for a few more days, Pharmeasy's IPO would have been successful. And that would have meant that retail investors would have bought the stock at its peak valuation of about $6-7 B. And what would have been the resultant of that? The sheer loss of Chaddi for the Average Aakash who would have bought the stock. Because the pre-IPO buzz for the company would have been "strong", obviously. And everyone would have been in on it. This story once again points out the fundamental disconnect between public markets & private markets. When VCs put billions of dollars into startups, the only way for them to recover that money is through unloading those companies to the public. And ideally, there needs to be a certain sense of responsibility when that's planned. After all, the Average Aakash is going to put his savings into these stocks, and he's NOT earning 25,000 to 1 Lakh a month with a family of five to feed, so he can pay for the VC's fifth mansion. But is there that sense of responsibility in the VC space? Not at all. The space is still majorly governed by a bunch of Ponzi operators who know nothing better than pumping valuations to funny heights with absolute apathy for fundamentals or a sense of originality. This is why we see all sorts of ridiculous companies getting funded & jacked up to the moon. And those companies aren't especially innovative either. They're a bunch of copies of some play which worked in US, or China. Or which has AI in its name. Retail investors will have to understand that the IPO market flooding with newly built VC pyramids is fundamentally against their best interest. By the time these companies reach the public markets, VCs have already squeezed the juice out of them, valuation wise. There's no upside left. There are exceptions to this pattern, of course. But they're rare. P.S. My Linkedin reach is dead. Please find the links in comments.

One more turmoil in the start up ecosystem - PharmEasy Co-founders to Quit After Startup loses valuation to $456 Mn. The company has lost its valuation by 90%. PharmEasy co-founders Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah, Harsh Parekh and Hardik Dedhia will quit the company after it loses its valuation to $456 Million. Indian e-pharmacy leader PharmEasy is in a bit of turmoil. The co-founders Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah, Harsh Parekh and Hardik Dedhia will quit the company. Notably, the online medicine delivery startup started in 2015 and merged with Ascent Health, one of the biggest offline pharmaceutical distribution companies to form API Holdings in 2020. The company valued at $5.6 billion during its peak in 2021, saw its valuation slashed to around $700 million in April 2024 when it raised money. According to the global asset farm Janus Henderson, an investor in the pharmacy startup, the valuation of PharmEasy is $458 million now, a haircut of 92 per cent. It is less than half the capital the company has raised. #startup #PharmEasy #valuation #turmoil #cofounders #quit