According to reports from Mint, Dawaa Dost, an omnichannel generic medicine pharmacy network, is looking to raise ₹200-250 crore in its first institutional equity funding round. The company has appointed EY to manage the fundraising process, which is currently in early stages. As reported by Mint, two people familiar with the development confirmed that the deal is in early stages, with several growth funds being sounded out as part of the process. The funds will be used to expand the company's reach and widen its omnichannel network.
Founded in 2018 by Amit Choudhary (CEO), Yash Harlalka (COO), and Anirudh Batwara (CTO), the Jaipur-based pharmacy chain focuses on making branded generic medicines highly affordable. According to its official website, the company serves about 19,000 pincodes and operates over 80 offline pharmacies. It utilizes a proprietary Kirana Tech model as an affiliate-assisted selling platform to expand affordable healthcare access across tier-II and tier-III cities in the country.
The company is backed by several angel investors including Kunal Shah (CRED), Arun Srinivas (Facebook, Ola), Saurabh Garg and Amit Agarwal (No Broker), A.N. Seshadri (Nalanda Capital), Amit Lodha (Fidelity International), Ashish Goel (Urban Ladder), Karthik Rajeshwaran (Flipkart), Suresh Mahadevan (Sure Cash), Amrish Rau (Pine Labs), Shankar Narayan (The Carlyle Group, Sanaka), and others. As reported by Mint, the Indian pharmacy retail market is valued at about $27.3 billion to $42.9 billion, with the broader domestic pharmaceutical market expected to reach $130 billion by 2030. Dawaa Dost competes with Trumeds, Tata1mg, PharmEasy and Apollo Pharmacy, among others.
According to reports from Mint, this funding round comes more than four years after the company raised debt financing from Grameen Impact, a social impact-focused non-banking financial company that invests in enterprises that demonstrate social responsibility and strong commercial potential. Dawaa Dost declined to comment on the current funding developments, while EY did not respond to Mint's queries regarding the fundraising process.
