Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy is currently valued at around $456 million after investor Janus Henderson filed to value his 12.9 million shares in the startup at $766,043.
The asset manager’s global research fund originally spent $9.4 million to acquire the stock. This valuation is 92% lower than PharmEasy’s all-time high price of $5.6 billion.
The consistently low valuation comes despite PharmEasy raising more than $200 million in new capital earlier this year and preparing to file for an initial public offering (IPO) next year.
PharmEasy launched a rights issue in 2023 amid funding constraints and debt service obligations. (Rights issues allow companies to raise capital by allowing shareholders to purchase shares at a discount. Depending on the terms, shareholders may disappear from their previous ownership structure if they do not participate in the rights issue.)
The rights issue raised $417 million, according to Dharmil Sheth, co-founder of PharmEasy. The startup had raised about $216 million, according to an April 2024 regulatory filing.
The startup, backed by Prosus, Temasek, TPG and B Capital, operates one of the largest online pharmacies in India. Janus Henderson’s stake valuation means PharmEasy is worth significantly less than the $600 million it paid to acquire diagnostic lab chain Thyrocare in 2021. Pharmeasy has raised more than $1 billion to date.
The startup’s financial struggles came after it postponed its $843 million IPO planned for November 2021. It then turned to debt financing, including a $300 million loan from Goldman Sachs, which proved problematic as the company struggled to repay those loans and raise new capital. A worsening market.
