Truemeds raises $22 million in its series B round led by Westbridge Capital

New Delhi: Truemeds, India’s leading telehealth platform, closed its series B funding round led by private equity fund Westbridge Capital. The new funding round also saw participation from existing investors including InfoEdge Ventures, Asha Impact and IAN Fund. The round witnessed oversubscription from new and existing investors however the company decided to cap the raise to $22 million.

The company plans to utilize the funds to accelerate growth in the untapped domestic market and expand its coverage across the country.

Founded by Ex-Abbott executives, Mr. Akshat Nayyar and Dr. Kunal Wani, Truemeds has witnessed phenomenal growth in the last 2 years on the back of strong product-market fit and a massive organic demand.

Commenting on the announcement Akshat Nayyar, Co-founder & CEO of Truemeds said “We are overwhelmed by the confidence our incoming and existing investors have shown in us. We are excited to welcome Westbridge Capital to join us as we make Truemeds a household name.”

Akshat added “India is one of the very few markets where we have pseudo-categorisation of medicines in branded and generic-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.

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. The market move towards generics is inevitable and Truemeds will lead that change.”

Having served 5 lakhs + customers with little marketing effort, Truemeds finds this the right time to double down and scale their marketing and operations beyond Maharashtra. The Company is currently fulfilling 1 lakh + orders every month and growing rapidly. In an effort to improve the customer experience and reach, the company plans to triple its fulfilment centres across the country in the next 6 months.

Sandeep Singhal, Managing Director, Westbridge Capital commented, “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. The founding team’s strong category understanding has resulted in the success at Truemeds and we are excited to help take the company to the next level.”

Amit Behl, Partner, InfoEdge Ventures commented, “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 e-commerce biz model operating with viable economics while growing rapidly and delivering attractive savings for customers. Execution by the team has been very impressive and with this fundraise they have the necessary capital to put in the building blocks required for rapid, long term and sustainable growth.”

With over 250 million plus chronic patients in India spending 15-20% of family income on medicines, Truemeds aims to make healthcare affordable for everyone by cutting down their medicine bills to half. According to the company, an average Truemeds customer saves ~47% on their medicine bills and this can go as high as 70%. That is a life changing number for an average Indian chronic patient spending INR 3000-4000 every month on medicines.