Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy is now being valued at about $456 million after its investor Janus Henderson said in a filing that it valued its stake of 12.9 million shares in the startup at $766,043.
The asset manager’s Global Research Fund had originally spent $9.4 million to acquire these shares. This valuation is 92% less than PharmEasy’s all-time-high price tag of $5.6 billion.
The persistent low valuation comes despite PharmEasy securing more than $200 million in fresh capital earlier this year, and while it’s preparing to file for an initial public offering next year.
PharmEasy had launched a rights issue in 2023 amidst a funding crunch and obligations to pay off a debt. (A rights issue allows companies to raise capital by letting shareholders purchase shares at a discount. Depending on the terms, shareholders can also be wiped out of their previous ownership structures if they don’t participate in a rights issue.)
PharmEasy had raised $417 million through the rights issue, according to its co-founder Dharmil Sheth. A regulatory filing in April 2024 showed the startup had secured about $216 million.
The startup, backed by Prosus, Temasek, TPG and B Capital, operates one of the largest online pharmacies in India. Janus Henderson’s valuation of its stake implies that PharmEasy is now worth much less than the $600 million it had paid to acquire diagnostic lab chain, Thyrocare, in 2021. Pharmeasy has raised over $1 billion to date.
The startup’s financial challenges emerged after it deferred an $843 million IPO planned for November 2021. It then turned to debt financing, including a $300 million loan from Goldman Sachs, which proved problematic as the company struggled to repay those loans and raise new equity in a deteriorating market.
