Pharmarack Files Draft Red Herring Prospectus for Pre-A Round of ₹500 Crore to Empower Pharma Retailers and Distributors with SaaS Solutions
Recently, Indian SaaS provider Pharmarack announced the launch of a ₹500 million Pre-A funding round to offer software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications for automated order processing and inventory management to pharmaceutical retailers and distributors. Investors include an Indian unicorn venture capital firm and the Currae Healthtech Fund.
Pharmarack’s technology is SaaS-based. The company focuses on automating the healthcare value chain, creating a supply chain matrix that impacts the entire pharmaceutical industry. By leveraging customer relationship management (CRM), accounting, and business software, it provides real-time market insights, analytics, and business reporting.
The company was founded in September 2015 by Pradyumn Singh, Kushal Bhandari, Anupam Sarawagi, and Bhavik Parmar. Singh serves as the company’s CEO; previously, he held positions as Head of Finance and Fixed Income at ICAP India and as Vice President of Debt Markets at Sunidhi Financial Services.
“The Indian pharmaceutical market is estimated at $15 billion, with annual losses due to expired medications or improper management amounting to approximately 3–4%,” said Singh. “We have created a new platform through which participants in the drug supply chain can track the disposition of pharmaceutical products.”
He also stated that, due to the complexity of the market, pharmaceutical companies often struggle to determine the effects that may arise once their drugs leave the factory and enter the market, which in turn makes it difficult for them to set production targets. Through Pharmarack’s application, drug manufacturers can gain visibility into existing warehouse inventory and distribution status, leveraging this information to define their production goals.
Singh believes that the company’s application enhances efficiency for clients in their production and sales processes, while also helping them increase revenue and reduce costs. Since its establishment in 2015, approximately 6,500 retailers and 250 pharmaceutical distributors have adopted its products, with monthly sales transactions via the app reaching around ₹9 billion.
Anil Joshi, Founder and Managing Director of India Unicorn Ventures, believes that Pharmarack’s growth has exceeded their expectations: “In our projections, it would require substantial capital. Although it is in a phase of rapid development, we still believe it needs significant working capital to support its growing demands.”
However, the continuously surging order volume far exceeded Joshi’s projections. Through Pharmarack, there are approximately 4,000 orders per day on average, with each order valued at around 3,000 rupees.
Currently, Pharmarack serves 10 cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Thane, and Nashik. The company aims to expand its coverage to 75 cities by the end of 2017.
Currae Healthtech, a subsidiary of Currae—India’s sole healthcare services company—is a health-tech startup currently opening up opportunities for hospital acquisitions as well as venture capital and seed investments in health-tech firms. It has made significant contributions to information technology enterprises and startups, while simultaneously transforming India’s healthcare sector with disruptive concepts.
Unicorn Ventures is a registered venture capital fund in India with a focus on early-stage technology (it participated in the Series B financing of Didi Chuxing). It is committed to disrupting traditional industries and helping users or enterprises that leverage innovative technologies as their core products or services to solve real-world problems. The firm invests in seed-stage companies and technology-driven enterprises spanning vertical industries. Beyond providing capital, it is dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurs to build market-leading companies.
Unicorn Venture Capital’s investment team operates across a broad spectrum, bringing extensive experience in both investing and entrepreneurship. The team is further supported by mentors and advisors with deep expertise in specific industries and professional domains. Its primary investment focus lies in technology-driven products or services, as well as the healthcare and deep-tech sectors, including mobile internet, SaaS, cloud technologies, and IT outsourcing services.