 "PharmEasy")
The parent company of online pharmacy startup Pharmeasy on Wednesday reported a consolidated net loss at Rs 5,212 crore in Financial Year 2022-23 (FY23), up 31 per cent compared to Rs 3,992 crore in FY22.
API Holdings said revenue from operations increased 16 per cent to Rs 6,644 crore in FY23, up from Rs 5,729 crore in FY22, according to regulatory filings sourced from Tofler.
After heavy losses in FY22, the Mumbai-based startup said its expenses increased 6 per cent to Rs 8.974 crore in FY23 from Rs 8,492 crore in FY22. Staff costs fell 12 per cent to Rs 1,283 crore and advertising and promotional expenses dropped by half to Rs 235 crore.
API Holdings’ pharmaceutical and cosmetic goods business contributes approximately 90 per cent of the company’s revenue. The remaining revenue streams include diagnostic services, licensing internet portals or mobile applications related to pharmaceutical and cosmetic goods sales, tele-consulting, sale and subscription of software services.
After facing a severe cash crunch in 2022, the company shelved its plans for an initial public offer. Pharmeasy reportedly lost its market leader position to Tata Digital-backed 1mg, in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV).
Pharmeasy has since then raised Rs 3,500 crore through a rights issue, at a 90 per cent discount to its peak valuation of $5.6 billion.
Ranjan Pai, chairman of Manipal Education and Medical Group, pledged an investment of Rs 1,300 crore during the round, becoming the largest investor in the company. Institutional investor Prosus emerged as the second largest shareholder in the company.
Dhaval Shah, co-founder of PharmEasy, said the company turned profitable in the first half of 2023-24. “For all months of H1 put together (the first six months April to September 2023), we clocked a cumulative Rs 60 crore of Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) at API,” Shah said in a LinkedIn post.
In a recent analyst call, Prosus said PharmEasy is an underperformer for the fund house but it continues to believe in the company.
