Online pharmacy Netmeds has quietly transferred Rs 79.45 crore ($11.28 million based on an average exchange rate for past 5 months) from its associated entity Tresara Health Private Limited to Netmeds Marketplace Limited.
While it can’t be ascertained whether this was based on a new funding round or is sourced out of money kept in the firm’s reserves from past fundings, it sure comes at a time when the company has finished acquisition talks with KiviHealth.
When asked, the company spokesperson did not clarify the above doubt. He maintained that this was internal money for internal usage.
A month ago, Netmeds had acquired KiviHealth, a clinic management platform in a cash and stock deal, and the startup will employ 250 people including the acquired company’s team in the next 8 months of 2019.
Further, it had also promised KiviHealth with a $10 million investment.
This hints at how Netmeds is planning to expand its operations as well as team size in the upcoming future. The judicial curveball that was expected to hit the online pharmacy segment left no dent in Netmeds’ growth plans.
To fund the execution of these plans, the company has fueled the basic operational entity with Rs 79.45 crore since December last year. This amount has been poured in the firm in as many as 8 tranches since December 2018, largest of these being the second January tranche worth Rs 16.7 crore.
The transactions have been made on the sale and purchase of Equity shares worth Rs 252-262 each, reveal RoC filings with MCA.
The latest tranche of this transfer came in a couple of days ago and was worth Rs 9 crore.
Before this, the last funding round was raised by the firm in September 2018, when Daun Penh Cambodia Group had led a $35 million investment.
Netmeds’ RoC filings for FY18 also reflected the growth stage of the company where even if the losses and expenses were increasing along with the revenue, the efficiency was also increasing.
Online pharmacy segment faces a lot of scrutinies and distrusting attitude of consumers due to the large risks involved with a patient’s health. It would be interesting to see how Netmeds copes with that while focusing on growth.
