By: Overcoming all the hurdles, the online pharmacy startup Myra has successfully raised $7-8 million from Matrix Partners and Times Internet. A little while earlier, PharmEasy also roped in $18 million from Bessemer Venture.
The recent fundraiser of Myra is especially important for the fact that pharmacy startups in India are facing tough times. Several regulatory impeded the sector and startups like Zigy shut their business. Yet, amid such debacles, investors are backing up some handpicked startups. Myra happens to be among them.
Having funds in hands, Online Pharmacy Startup Myra now intends to enter the new metros in India. As the founder and CEO Faizan Aziz sais, “We are looking to start operations in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune while we deepen our network within Bengaluru.” Up till now, the startup confined its services in Bengaluru only.
Myra targets three to four folds growth for the next nine months. Currently, it receives about 1000 daily orders. The total direct and indirect resources of the company add up to about 300 people. The company also wants to strengthen its workforce to 900 before the year ends. Myra is a full stack model startup. It holds a drug license and hires registered pharmacists to validate the authenticity of prescriptions.
Physical shops overshadow the Indian pharmacy retail market. But people are taking e-commerce based retailers with both hands. The MD of Matrix Partners, Tarun Davda says that the $15 billion worth of Indian pharmacy market remains broken at the core level despite such an advancement in technology.
Today about 140 startups are serving in the sector, and out of them, 18 have raised funds. As per the Tracxn statistics, investors have already blessed the industry with $110 million. The most funded names are NetMeds, PharmEasy, and 1mg.
Miten Sampat, the VP corporate development at Times Internet said, “Myra takes a high-frequency use case and makes it super easy for users to access a pharmacy digitally.”
Despite investors not very willing to fund the sector,1mg and NetMeds fundraisers are in incredible numbers.
