Bangalore: A new group of investors, which includes hedge funds Steadview Capital, IIFL and a US hedge fund, are in talks to join a pre-IPO (initial public offering) funding round in e-pharmacy. PharmEasy, said sources familiar with the matter. The company has also finalized a secondary transaction worth about $100 million in which some existing investors, such as Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s venture fund foundation, Eight Rhodes Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners will partially exit.

ET reported last month that PharmEasy is close
raise $200 million In primary capital from investors outside the US and Southeast Asia, but was trying to stitch up a secondary deal before filing its draft prospectus for the IPO. In addition, PharmEasy parent API Holdings It is in the final stages of closing $300 million in funding before filing its draft IPO papers later this month.

Sources said new investors are in talks to invest through primary and secondary share sale in the current round. In a secondary transaction, existing investors sell some or all of their shares to new investors and the money does not go into the company’s treasury. In primary financing, the company receives capital by issuing new shares.

The pre-IPO funding will take place at a pre-money valuation of approximately $5.5 billion. Sources said that after this round, the value of the company will come to around $ 5.8 billion. PharmEasy’s final value was $4.2 billion in June, followed by
Acquired Diagnostic Lab Chain Thyrocare.

Emails sent to the investors mentioned above did not elicit an immediate response. PharmEasy Cofounder Dhaval Shah ET’s request for comment did not immediately respond.

Sources said that apart from the pre-IPO round, US asset manager Fidelity is in talks with the company to join as an anchor investor during its IPO with major investments in the company.

ET first
reported in august That PharmEasy had finalized the October deadline for filing its draft IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). PharmEasy, which competes with Tata-owned 1mg and Reliance Industries’ Netmeds, has been told it may seek a valuation of $9-10 billion in a public listing. However, this IPO could be priced at a valuation of $7-8 billion, so the valuation has picked up for investors after the listing, as ET reported last month. To be sure, tech startups have kept investor appetite strong in recent times – in terms of valuations – after filing their draft IPO papers. These numbers are therefore subject to change as long as PharmEasy discloses its price band for a public share sale.

ET is reporting on the recent moves at PharmEasy ahead of its IPO. It has got board approval to convert a private firm into a public company and
expanded your board Up to 12 with five new independent directors. Subramaniam Somasundaram, former chief financial officer of Titan and Ramakant Sharma, founder and chief operating officer of Livspace, are among them. Aditya Puri, the founder, former managing director and chief executive of HDFC Bank with a stake of less than 0.5%, is a board member and a minor investor in the firm.

PharmEasy Recently
Cloud-based hospital supply chain management startup Aknamed. acquired in a deal worth $180-190 million as it continues to establish itself as a comprehensive e-healthcare firm.

A report by Praxis Global Alliance states that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to rapid growth for teleconsultation in India. The market, worth $163 million as of March, is projected to grow to $800 million by March 2024. The online pharmacy market in India is projected to be worth around $2.7 billion by 2023, up from around $360 million in 2020, EY said in a report for the year.