Generico, which runs a network of offline pharmacies selling generic drugs exclusively, has raised a Series-B round of funding led by venture capital firm Lightbox Ventures, said a senior executive.
Its existing investors- Tomorrow Capital and Whiteboard Capital, also participated in the round.
Founded by Siddharth Gadia and Girish Agarwal in 2017, Generico currently has about 40 stores in Mumbai from where it sells medicines, but also seeks to go beyond a retailer, by providing health awareness camps, self help groups and counselling to patients, Gadia told Mint in a phone interview.
It plans to use the funds to build upto 150 stores in the next two years, and with over 4,00,000 customers, claims to be profitable at a store and warehouse level.
“Today, a pharmacy has become more of a dispensary. The crux of the problem is how do you manage chronic diseases, and manage health in a way that you address it proactively, not only when you are sick,” Lightbox’s managing partner Sandeep Murthy told Mint over phone.
“Generico wants to use the trust you have with patients by selling medicines and help them manage overall health. It want to build out services and plug in yoga classes, meditation, walking groups, etc, and wants to be resource patients can engage with,” Murthy added.
It also plans to use the funds raised to strengthen its capabilities in supply chain management and data science, while catering to middle income families in urban areas.
It previously raised a Series-A round of $3 million from Tomorrow Capital, Whiteboard Capital and angel investor Gagan Goyal.
While Generico runs physical stores exclusively, the online pharmacy space has seen a number of well-funded players such as PharmEasy, Netmeds and 1mg emerge, despite regulatory concerns and outright bans in certain areas earlier this year.
Generico plans to stick to the offline space for the moment.
The investment also marks Lightbox’s third investment so far from its $200 million third fund. In March, invested about $4 million in sanitary napkin brand Nua Woman, along with existing backer Kae Capital, and is also in advanced discussions to lead a $50 million round in concierge and delivery startup Dunzo, Mint first reported on May 28. Lightbox is leading the round along with search giant Google, an existing investor in Dunzo.
Lightbox’s previous investments include Rebel Foods, best known for cloud kitchen brand Faasos, and furniture rental website Furlenco, among others
From the third fund, Lightbox is looking to double down on consumer-focused startups, which includes a wide range of sub-sectors—retail, consumer internet, food, health and education— founder and managing partner Sandeep Murthy said in an interview on 26 December.
Source: Mint