Pre-Series A round: MedznMore raises over $11.5 mn

Health tech firm MedznMore announced it has raised more than $11.5 million in a Pre-Series A funding round, as Pakistan’s startup ecosystem continues to expand at a rapid pace. This is the largest funding secured by a health tech company in the country.

The round was led by Integra Partners, Nunc Gestion, Atlas Group, Sturgeon Capital and Alta Semper with follow-on participation from Lakson Group and Premier Group. Additional investors included ACE & Co, AlTouq Group, Key Family Partners, Reflect Ventures and select angel investors, added a statement.

Back in September 2020, the startup had raised $2.6 million, which brings the total funding since its inception to over $14 million.

The firm is a pharmaceutical delivery platform for consumers and retail pharmacies that intends to tackle fundamental problems pertaining to purchasing medicines and wellness products.

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One of these problems, according to a statement by the company, is that the domestic market is rife with counterfeit medicine. Reports suggest that 25% to 40% of all medicines dispensed are either fake or ineffective.

The firm said it is looking to address this head on and improve the availability and ease of access to authentic medicine across the country.

The startup works directly with pharmaceutical companies and authorised distributors to sell products at competitive prices. It also looks to ensure medicine is available to pharmacies and consumers through same- and next-day deliveries.

Co-Founder Asad Khan said that in Pakistan, where public healthcare spending is only 1.2% of GDP and 55% of all healthcare spending is out-of-pocket, people generally rely on medicines to alleviate their suffering rather than spend on unaffordable medical procedures.

“Ensuring the accessibility of affordable and authentic medicines is essential. Our aim is to make health and wellness products available in all corners of the country,” he stated.

Co-founder Babar Lakhani said that the firm is focused on making quality healthcare affordable and accessible for the fifth largest population in the world.

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The company has seven cold chain-enabled warehouses in three cities and plans to expand to a new city each month in 2022, enhancing its presence to 9 cities by the end of the year. The startup delivers over 100,000 products from its warehouses each day.

“On the product side we are laser focused on the user experience for both shopkeepers and consumers, for whom we will be adding new value add services and offerings in the coming months,” he said.

Sturgeon Capital Chief Investment Officer Kiyan Zandiyeh noted that the firm demonstrated a level of focus and quality of execution in a short time that led to tremendous traction in the pharmaceutical market of Pakistan.

“This combined with a clear vision of the product road map led us to believe that the company will be a category leader in the pharmaceutical market not only in Pakistan but in the broader region as well,” he said.

Integra Partners Managing Partner Jignesh Patel said being an impact/ ESG investor, the venture capital found MedznMore sharing the same ideology of sustainability and social impact.

According to him, the healthtech was solving some of the most pressing problems within the Pakistani healthcare space and it had shown phenomenal traction in a very short span of time.

With a month-on-month revenue growth of over 40% in the past year, MedznMore is ranked among the largest startups in the country.

The development comes as the country's startup ecosystem continues to see a massive boost, grabbing the interest of both local and international investors.

The country attracted a record amount of investment in 2021 with 81 deals, securing roughly $350 million, according to Invest2Innovate (i2i). The amount raised is more than 5x of what was raised in 2020 i.e. $65 million.

Last month, medIQ, which connects customers to health service providers, announced that it has raised $1.8 million in early-stage funding.