Flipkart in Discussions to Acquire Bengaluru’s E-Pharma Company, Pharmallama
- ByStartupStory | February 20, 2023
As per a report, online retailer Flipkart is currently in discussions to acquire a stake in Bengaluru’s Pharmallama, which is operated by Mera Dawai Pvt. Ltd. This potential deal would provide Flipkart with access to the platform’s advanced technologies.
Pharmallama, founded in June 2020 by Achintya Dayal, Arjun Raghunandan, and Deepesh Rajpal, offers personalized sorting of drug prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, and vitamins in pouches arranged according to date and time. As per the report, Dayal and Raghunandan are also co-founders of Kiplist, a travel tech startup that develops software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools for the hospitality sector. Additionally, Rajpal has been a founding member of two previous health-tech platforms – MED365 and Lifcare.
Pharmallama, a player in the online pharmacy market, is competing against larger rivals including Tata 1mg, Amazon, Reliance-owned Netmeds, and Apollo Pharmacy. Notably, this development is noteworthy because API Holdings Ltd, the parent company of PharmEasy, had to abandon its IPO in August 2021 due to market conditions and strategic considerations. As an alternative, the company obtained debt funding from EvolutionX Debt Capital, according to the report.
According to the report, in a comparable move last year, Tata 1MG garnered $40 million in funding from its majority stakeholder Tata Digital Ltd, at a unicorn valuation. Additionally, Flipkart is also venturing into the healthcare industry by obtaining a stake in SastaSundar Marketplace Ltd, the parent company of SastaSundar.com, in November 2021, as stated in the report.
The report further mentions that last year, Flipkart invested in the diabetes management platform BeatO, as part of its accelerator programme, Flipkart Leap Ahead. Along with several other investors, the company invested $500,000 in each of the six ventures to provide early-stage startups with mentorship and guidance to scale and build disruptive innovations.
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