MedznMore raises over $11.5m investment

KARACHI:

MedznMore has raised Pakistan’s largest healthtech investment of over $11.5 million in Pre-Series A round.

The company on Friday announced that it has completed its Pre-Series A round, marking the largest investment in healthtech to date. MedznMore is on a mission to reshape healthcare in Pakistan by increasing the accessibility of authentic medicines and services across the country to reach all 220 million people.

MedznMore raised $2.6 million in September 2020, which was then the largest seed round in Pakistan, bringing the total funding since inception to over $14 million.

This round, the country’s largest Pre-Series A to date, included Integra Partners, Nunc Gestion, Atlas Group, Sturgeon Capital, and Alta Semper with follow-on participation from Lakson Group and Premier Group.

Additional investors included ACE & Co, AlTouq Group, Key Family Partners, Reflect Ventures and select angel investors.

The company, founded in late 2020 by Babar Lakhani, Asad Khan, and Saad Khawar, is a B2X pharma delivery platform that is transforming healthcare in Pakistan. The company is tackling fundamental problems that have persisted for decades in buying medicines and wellness products for consumers and retail pharmacies alike.

“In a market of over 220 million people, where public healthcare spending is only 1.2% of GDP, and where 55% of all healthcare spending is out of pocket, people generally rely on medicines to alleviate their suffering rather than spend on unaffordable medical procedures. Ensuring the accessibility to affordable and authentic medicines is essential. At MedznMore, we aim to make health and wellness products available in all corners of the country,” said Asad Khan.

The domestic market is rife with counterfeit medicines, and reports suggest that 25% to 40% of all medicines dispensed is either fake or has lost efficacy. MedznMore is addressing this challenge head on and improving the availability and ease of access to authentic medicines across the country.

The start-up works directly with pharmaceutical companies and authorised distributors to sell products at competitive prices. The company ensures that medicines are always available to pharmacies and consumers by doing same day and next day deliveries.

“We built MedznMore with the core focus of making quality healthcare affordable and accessible for the fifth largest population in the world. Today, we have seven cold chains-enabled warehouses in three cities and over the course of the year, we will be opening in a new city each month, giving us presence in nine cities across the country by the end of the year. On the product side, we are laser-focused on the user experience for both shopkeepers and consumers, for whom we will be adding new value add services and offerings in the coming months,” stated Babar Lakhani.

MedznMore has seen phenomenal traction and is amongst the top five largest start-ups in the country by revenue, growing over 40% month over month over the last 12 months.

The start-up delivers over 100,000 products from its warehouses each day, led by a team of over 800 people.

“The team at MedznMore has demonstrated in a short time a level of focus and quality of execution that has led to tremendous traction in the large and important pharmaceutical market of Pakistan. This combined with a clear vision of the product roadmap led us to believe that the company will be a category leader in the pharmaceutical market not only in Pakistan but the broader region. We’re proud to be invested in the company and excited for the journey ahead,” said Kiyan (Sturgeon Capital).

“Being an Impact/ESG Investor, we found MedznMore to share the same ideology of sustainability and social impact. They are solving some of the most pressing problems within the Pakistani healthcare space and have shown phenomenal traction in a very short span of time. We are excited to be backing the star team at MedznMore and are looking forward to being part of their journey as they reshape the Pakistani healthcare landscape,” said Jinesh (Integra Partners).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2022.

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