The Flipkart Group has agreed to acquire a majority stake in online pharmacy Sastasundar Marketplace to launch its own healthcare business amid a pandemic-triggered consolidation in India’s healthtech industry.
Flipkart Health+, as the new entity will be known, will leverage the Walmart Inc.-controlled company’s pan-India network and SastaSundar’s healthtech expertise to provide consumers access to quality and affordable healthcare—first through an e-pharmacy and later via e-diagnostics and e-consultation, according to a statement issued on Friday. Flipkart’s Senior Vice President Ajay Veer Yadav will take the helm of the new business unit.
While Flipkart did not comment on the size of the investment, SastaSundar had told The Economic Times in May that it was valued at $100 million and was looking to raise fresh capital.
“With growing awareness and focus on health heightened by the pandemic, there is a large opportunity and demand for affordable healthcare and ancillary offerings,” Ravi Iyer, senior vice president and head of corporate development at Flipkart, said in the statement on Friday. “The synergies between Flipkart Group and SastaSundar…will help us grow and transform online healthcare in India.”
The Flipkart-SastaSundar deal comes when API Holdings, the parent entity of India’s largest e-pharmacy PharmEasy, has filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for a Rs 6,250-crore initial public offering (IPO). The company had in June acquired Thyrocare Technologies to expand its healthtech offerings to include diagnostics. Separately, Tata Group has acquired 1mg and Reliance Industries has bought over Netmeds to mark their forays in a sector that’s seen a pandemic-induced boom over the past 18 months. Flipkart’s rival Amazon India offers medicine delivery service in Bengaluru, for now.
Founded in 2013 by BL Mittal and Ravi Kant Sharma, SastaSundar—supported by a network of more than 490 offline pharmacies—provides affordable healthcare to its consumers by sourcing original products from authorised sources and delivering them across the country. It uses AI and data analytics to provide personal counselling through its platform.
“At SastaSundar, we are focused on developing innovative ways to provide access to affordable healthcare easily and conveniently, building a trusted network for authentic medicines, diagnostics and wellness,” Mittal said. Through this partnership with Flipkart, we see an opportunity to further grow and reach a larger consumer base, using complementary technologies and logistics infrastructure.”
Source: Economic Times