Wellness Forever raises Rs 20 cr from a consortium of investors

Proceeds to be used for launch of warehousing and logistics facility and for store expansion

Wellness Forever, a Mumbai based retail pharmacy chain has raised Rs 20 crore in its maiden equity round from a consortium of HNIs (high net worth individuals) and family offices led by Rajiv Dadlani Group for a minority stake in the Company.

The consortium of investors included family offices including Rajiv Dadlani Group, Patni's backed RAAY Global Investments, Thakral Family Companies (Singapore), Allana Group (Middle-East) and others. The promoters have also participated by investing further in this round.

Rajiv Dadlani joins the Board of Directors of the Company representing the HNI Investors and family offices and Amit Patni is an Observer on the Board.

The funding is being primarily deployed towards the launch of India's first ZEDC (Zero Error Distribution Center), a state of the art warehousing and logistics facility in Bhiwandi for Pharma, Lifestyle, Wellness, FMCG products.

Backed by this investment, Wellness Forever is also aggressively expanding its retail stores from 70 to over 100 outlets over the next 12 months across Mumbai as well as key growth markets of Maharashtra like Pune and Nashik coupled with hiring senior talent, technology implementation, and brand and marketing outreach.

Their stores have been inspired by reputed global pharmacies, designed in a very customer friendly self-browsing format. The Company employs over 1,500 people among which are over 250 qualified pharmacists and has a robust Training and Development program for their employees.

The Company has over 500,000 loyal paid customers and operates under three formats including Retail Pharmacies, Hospital Pharmacies, and Managed Franchises. They offer a wide range of private label and premium label products and are growing this portfolio, as the management has a strong focus on increasing gross margins by focusing on optimizing the product-mix at their stores.

The Company has been growing rapidly and on track to achieve Revenues of Rs. 400 crores in the coming year. The company is investing heavily in technology and will be launching their online /web pharmacy along with their mobile app soon as they believe that the hybrid model i.e. offline stores and online pharmacy combination would work best in the future. They have also recently launched their loyalty card programme for their customers.

Commenting on the investment, Rajiv Dadlani, CEO, Rajiv Dadlani Group, and active Investor, in early and mid-stage Companies, said, "Over the last few years, Wellness Forever swiftly expanded its footprint. Growing their Sales and Profits at 35-40 per cent CAGR the company plans to expand its presence to 1,000 Retail Outlets pan-India in the next 5-7 years. Given their impressive track record and incredible work done so far and company's vision, we are delighted to partner with them in their next phase of growth."

Headquartered in Mumbai, Wellness Forever has been formed by three well known entrepreneurs with a collective experience of over 100 years of operating profitable pharmacies. The company currently operates a chain of over 70 24*7 day and night stores in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Belgaum, and rest of Maharashtra.

Some of the Top pharmacies in the city are some of the pharmacies owned and managed by the promoters of the company. Wellness Forever aims to create India's most respected chain of branded lifestyle pharmacies and wellness stores which will deliver customers unmatched performance in lowering healthcare costs, ensure availability of products and healthcare information and continue to offer value add services to patients.