INDIA – India’s largest online pharmacy chain, PharmEasy, has acquired Aknamed, a cloud-based hospital supply chain management start-up, in a largely inventory deal valued at US$180 – US$190 million.
Aknamed, based in Bengaluru, India’s largest industrial city, provides procurement options to over 1,200 hospitals, among them Manipal Hospitals, Columbia Asia, and Narayana Wellbeing.
Founded in 2018 bySaurabh Pandey and Mahadevan Narayanmoni, Aknamed has managed to grow its monthly revenue 10 times at the end of the last fiscal year.
The acquisition, which is much like its buy of Thyrocare in June, is a part of the Mumbai-based firm’s plans to place itself as a broader on-line healthcare agency, diversifying from being simply an internet drugs supply platform. API Holdings acquired a 66.1% in diagnostics chain Thyrocare.
E-health, the space in which PharmEasy and Aknamed operate, is a fast growing and economically promising market.
The global e-health market is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2020 to 2027. Data Bridge Market Research analyses the market to account to US$310.09 billion by 2027 growing with the CAGR of 22.51% in the above-mentioned forecast period.
The growing usage of big data and scarcity of healthcare professionals will help in driving the growth of the eHealth market.
The more emphasis on patient-centric healthcare delivery, high prevalence of chronic diseases, and increase in government initiatives supporting the use of eHealth solutions and services will likely to accelerate the growth of the eHealth market in the forecast period of 2020-2027.
On the other hand, advancement in technology of eHealth will further boost various opportunities that will lead to the growth of the eHealth market in the above-mentioned forecast period.
As part of this deal, all founders of Aknamed will get shares in PharmEasy’s parent company, API Holdings, and extra inventory choices.
The deal comes forward of a deliberate Preliminary Public Providing by API Holdings, which is expected to file its draft IPO papers by next month.
As per media reports, PharmEasy is likely to raise US$1 billion through the public market. However, the company is still negotiating with new investors to raise between US$200 million and US$300 million at a valuation of around US$5.6 billion.
On Monday, API Holdings, in preparation for the IPO, appointed 5 new directors to its board, bringing diversity to the board, with experts from the field of public service, technology, pharma, medical fraternity, and the consumer sector.
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