In an attempt to strengthen its ecommerce footprint, Indian multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Epharmacy startup Netmeds.
According to a Times Of India report, Reliance, through one of its subsidiaries, may pay about $150mn for the assets including fresh capital infusion in the ten-year-old startup for expansion of operations.
Reliance has been actively trying to build its presence in the online market. The company is trying to acquire majority stakes in multiple startups working in the online domain.
Recently, the company launched its own online retail market JioMart through WhatsApp business to take Amazon and Flipkart in a head-on competition.
Reliance’s acquisition of Netmeds had been speculated since before lockdown. The transaction would be made on the valuation of Netmeds’ last funding round.
The recent development comes just a few weeks after Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook acquired a 9.9% stake in Reliance’s Jio platform for $5.7bn. Soon after Facebook, private equity firm Silver Lake also acquired a 1.15% stake in the mobile communications and digital platform.
Earlier in April, Netmeds had partnered with RIL-owned Reliance Retail for its delivery services. Netmeds was struggling to make deliveries and keep business running during the lockdown before the partnership.
If the deal goes through, Netmeds would be the eighth company that Reliance has acquired since 2017. It has spent close to $3bn on acquisitions in companies including Saavn, Embibe, Fynd, Haptik, and NowFloats among others.
This won’t be Reliance’s first entry in the pharmacy domain. Earlier in 2019, Reliance had acquired 82% stake in C-Square solutions, a Bengaluru-based startup which provides software solutions to pharma companies.
Netmeds has so far raised about $100mn across three funding rounds. The last funding was done in October 2019 by its parent entity Tresara Health Pvt Ltd for ₹250Cr.
To fuel its growth, Netmeds has also made few acquisitions since its inception. It acquired JustDoc in September 2018, Delhi-based hyperlocal drugs delivery startup Pluss in November 2016, and KiViHealth in March last year.
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