Mumbai-based DrStore, which operates an eponymous business-to-business marketplace for medical supplies, has raised an undisclosed sum in a pre-Series A funding round from Equanimity Ventures, a company statement said.
The startup will use the fresh capital for geographical expansion, to develop its technology and to hire talent, Neeraj Khatre and Sukhendu Patnaik, co-founders of the venture, said.
“DrStore brings the purchasing power of large organisations to small and mid-sized hospitals using deep technology and industry expertise. This is changing the industry landscape by bringing in procurement efficiencies, reducing costs and helping local hospitals have a wider and deeper impact,” Rajesh Sehgal, managing partner at Equanimity, said in the statement.
DrStore
Run by DrStore Healthcare Services India Pvt. Ltd, the venture was founded in 2015 by Khatre and Patnaik. It operates an online marketplace where hospitals, small to medium-sized nursing homes and stand-alone clinics can procure medical devices and consumables in bulk.
The company provides clinical diagnostic equipment and kits, point-of-care devices, rapid diagnostics kits, hospital supplies, disposables, surgical kits, consumables, medical implants, patient-care medical products, home healthcare solutions and self and care devices among others, information on its website states.
It also offers hospital advisory and consulting solutions that include hospital design, lab design, equipment purchase, hospital financing and NABL/NABH accreditation support.
A mechanical engineer and an MBA by qualification, Katare (chief executive) earlier led the pharma supply chain and operation advisory practice at PwC India. Prior to that, he worked at Piramal Enterprises Ltd, TCS and Aditya Birla Group. Co-founder Patnaik is a physics graduate and had earlier worked at Abbott Healthcare’s supply chain vertical. His earlier stints include Piramal Healthcare Ltd, Pfizer and Alembic.
The Mumbai-based investment firm was floated in February 2017 by Sehgal, a former senior executive director at Franklin Templeton Investments. A sector-agnostic fund with a focus on tech, it was launched with a target corpus of $30 million (Rs 201 crore). The company received commitments from investment guru Mark Mobius, who is executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, and several other Franklin Templeton officials.
In February this year, it hit the first close of its debut fund at Rs 70 crore ($10.8 million).
Some of its other recent bets include online parenting platform BabyChakra and investment app Sqrrl.
Deals in the space
A number of healthcare-focussed online marketplaces have recently raised funding.
Last month, VCCircle had reported that Gurugram-based online pharmacy 1mg Technologies Pvt. Ltd was in talks with private investors to raise up to $60 million in its largest funding round till date.
In October this year, Medikabazaar, a B2B online marketplace for medical supplies, raised $5 million (Rs 36.6 crore then) in its Series A round of funding led by Healthquad Advisors, a fund floated by founders of private equity firm Quadria Capital.