Ascent Health and Wellness to raise $100 Mn from Temasek, CDPQ and others

Mumbai-based Ascent Health and Wellness company with an aim to propel deeper into the pharmaceutical distribution space is in talks to raise $100 million in an equity financing round from Temasek Holdings.

With the latest fund infusion, the pharma distributor firm is estimated to be valued at $650-700 million, which will be one of the bulkiest funding rounds in the country’s online pharma space. 

Notably, Singapore-headquartered Temasek and Ascent Health and Wellness seemingly are reported to close the deal over the next 45 days.

This funding round will also witness the participation of online pharma retailer PharmEasy, CDPQ, and family-owned private banking and asset management group LGT. 

Founded in 2013, Ascent Health and Wellness provides the pharma majors with all channels of distribution counting retail and institutional along with delegating as a vendor for the hospital chains. Mumbai-based firm, which has emerged to be the second-largest pharma distributor after Apollo, claims to cater to around 20,000 retailers across the country.

Temasek, which considers India to be one of its key markets is to foray into pharma space previously invested in ride-hailing major Ola, payments technology firm Pine Labs and is also reportedly in news to bag a stake in BookMyShow. 

So far, Siddharth Shah led company has been working with few of the top listed pharma companies i.e Zydus, Cadila, Cipla, and Sun Pharmaceuticals.

This development was first reported by ET.