With a new $40 million fundraising round headed by Tata Digital, the online pharmaceutical platform 1mg has become the country’s newest unicorn.
Currently, 1mg claims to deliver 31 million orders each month over 20,000 pin codes in the country.
The investment comes in the wake of the launch of Tata Neu, the company’s super app that serves as the company’s flagship and aims to provide customers with access to the conglomerate’s data-driven omnichannel experience across a range of platforms.
Sunil Puri, Senior Executive Vice President of Tata Digital, emphasizes the benefits of this investment. “This is about 50% FDI in Tata Memorial,” he says. “I’m sure there will be more investments to come.”
1mg was acquired by Tata Digital in June of last year for $450 million. In the most recent round, Tata Digital contributed around $32 million for 24,711 equity shares in 1mg. KWE Beteiligungen AG and HBM Healthcare are also investors of 1mg.
Apparently, the operating income of Gurugram-based 1mg more than doubled to Rs 627 crore in the fiscal year 2022 from Rs 309 crore in FY21 as per tata digital 40m series healthcare 1mgsinghtechcrunch.
Additionally, from Rs 314 crore the previous year to Rs 526 crore this year, its losses increased by more than 67%. Prashant Tandon, Gaurav Agarwal, and Vikas Chauhan founded it in April 2015.
The country currently boasts 107 unicorns, with 1mg joining a growing unicorn list of health-tech companies like PharmEasy, Innovaccer, Curefit, and Pristine Care.
Customers can learn about the full range of products and services Tatas offer by visiting Tata Neu, a digital platform.
To attract consumers to the Neu platform, Tata Neu must overcome two obstacles, claims brokerage firm JM Financial Institutional Securities.
One is that neither Neu’s categories nor their neighbors are exhaustive. Therefore, while seeking a one-stop shop, it won’t always be the customer’s first choice.
Two, the only companies with inventory in industries like housing, travel, and food are Tata’s own brands, which will limit customer choice and the opportunity to compare rates.
They think Tata is aware of these difficulties and does not anticipate a rapid shift in consumer preferences toward Tata Neu.
Tata Neu provides NeuPass as a perk to consumers who use its platform to transact, but the main objective is not to alter a customer’s preferred site to shop” It seems to be a recent report.
This happens at a time when it is getting harder to get late-stage financing due to shifts in market sentiments following a record year in 2021.
Final Words
In addition to its pharmacy activities, Tata 1mg appears to be attempting to grow its diagnostic business in order to position itself as a digital health platform that provides a range of services, including online doctor consultations.
Its omnichannel strategy is in line with parent company Tata Digital’s goals to give its brands both an online and offline presence, and it has also already begun operating a few offline shops in Delhi-NCR as a trial.
Faqs
As of September 7, 2022, India is home to 107 unicorns, with a combined value of $ 340.79 billion.
Ten years after the country’s first unicorn appeared in India, there are now 100 of them, with Flipkart and BYJU being two of the most valuable privately held unicorn companies.
As of May 2022, the collective market value of India’s unicorns was $333+ billion.
The investment in 1MG increases Tata’s capacity to offer top-notch patient care and high-quality healthcare products & services through a technology-led platform, according to Pratik Pal, CEO of Tata Digital.
Tata group at 1mg is excited to share its new brand name and identity as well as its cooperation with the Tata Group: The storied symbol of trust and the most well-liked digital health platform in India have merged to establish 1mg, now known as Tata 1mg, in an effort to improve healthcare for all.
requirements for qualifying for a Tata 1mg franchise
Make sure you can promote Tata 1mg sales in your region. Although having a store is not necessary, the Tata 1mg board draws more and more customers to your store if you do. You must make a one-time commitment of $10,000 plus GST.