[Funding alert] Truemeds raises $22 mn in funding led by WestBridge Capital

Telehealth platform Truemeds has raised $22 million in Series B funding round from WestBridge Capital.

The funding round also saw participation from New and existing investors includingInfoEdgeVentures, Asha Impact and IAN Fund.

The startup plans to use the funds to accelerate growth in the untapped domestic market and expand its coverage across the country. Now it wants to expand its operations outside Maharashtra as well.

The Mumbai-based Truemeds was founded in 2019 by Akshat Nayyar and Kunal Wani, It focuses on recommending value alternative brands to older patients.

The startup offers free delivery of suggested brands and has served over 500,000 customers till date.

In an effort to improve customer experience and reach, the company plans to triple its fulfillment centers across the country over the next six months, the company said in a statement.

The company claims to be currently fulfilling over 100,000 orders every month and growing rapidly.

“India is one of the very few markets where we have pseudo-categorisation of medicines in branded and generic to create different price tiers between them. 95% of the drugs sold in India are off-patent (thus technically generics). There is absolutely no difference in the scientific composition of generics and branded drugs”, said, Akshat Nayyar, founder of Truemeds.

“The Indian generic-generic market is growing at 1.5 times the overall pharmaceutical market and following the US landscape where the generics prescription share moved from 40% in 2005 to over 85% in 2019”, he added.

“We are excited to partner with Truemeds as they create value for patients by delivering high quality drugs at extremely affordable prices at the patients’ doorstep”, said, Sandeep Singhal, managing director, West Bridge Capital.

According to the startup more than 250 million chronic patients in India spend 15-20% of their family income on medicines and an average Truemeds customer saves around 47% on medicine bills and this can go up to 70%.

“Truemeds is carving out a good place for itself in the Indian pharma market with its simple but powerful proposition of reducing costs of medicine bills. Seldom do we witness an ecommerce biz (business) model operating with viable economics while growing rapidly and delivering attractive savings for customers”, said, Amit Behl, partner, InfoEdge Ventures.

In June 2021, Truemeds had raised $5 million in a Series A funding round from existing investor InfoEdge Ventures, Asha Impact and Indian Angel Network Fund.

About Truemeds

The burden of medicine bills is a leading cause of financial worry among Indian consumers ● 70% of healthcare spend in India is on Medicines ● 15-20% of family income of chronic patients is spent on medicines ● 63 million people in India plunge into poverty annually due to healthcare costs their vision is to make healthcare affordable and accessible to all.

They are a technology-driven, tele-health platform that aims to reduce healthcare expenses and improve healthcare outcomes by democratising medicine purchase in India. TrueMeds, through its proprietary algorithm and teleconsultation, is able to recommend best value medicines to customers with precise scientific matching and outcomes history leading to 50%+ savings for customers! They have grown at a phenomenal pace with customer love – 60X growth delivered in the last 20 months.

Headquartered in Mumbai, They are excited to build a strong product and operations team, which is passionate to build innovative solutions and willing to go the extra mile to ensure the customer has the best experience.