Indian online pharmacy startup FarmEasy was once valued at $5.6 billion but is still worth about 92% below its peak valuation, according to a new estimate from investor Janus Henderson.
FarmEasy's estimated valuation at the end of June was about $458 million, according to a Anglo-American global asset manager that disclosed the valuation of the Indian startup's shares in a securities filing.
This comes as a surprise, as FarmEasy said in April that it was raising about $417 million through a rights issue. FarmEasy co-founder Dharmil Sheth said in a LinkedIn post that the rights issue, which allowed existing investors to buy new shares in the company at a much lower valuation, was oversubscribed.
The startup had secured about $216 million, according to regulatory filings.Some investors had already started reducing the value of their stakes in PharmEasy last year.New valuation estimates suggest that PharmEasy is now worth less than what it paid for acquiring diagnostic lab chain CyroCare in 2021.
FarmEasy, which is backed by Temasek, TPG, B Capital and Prosus, did not respond to a request for comment. Janus declined to comment.
PharmEasy, which has raised approximately $1 billion to date, offers a range of services including tools and information for wellness, consultations, diagnostic and radiology testing, and treatment delivery.
The once-growing startup had filed for an $843 million IPO in November 2021 but later postponed the plans. Instead, the company tried to finance some of its rapid growth with debt. A $300 million loan from Goldman Sachs ultimately proved costly for the company as it struggled to pay back the capital and raise new equity after the market turned around.
“A lot has been written and a lot has been said about us. We typically don't react to it and believe in just doing what's right for our team, shareholders and the company and exceeding expectations. It's easy to write about companies because they are 'ultimately entities'. We tend to forget that ultimately these entities are built by real people, with real sweat, blood, tears and so much more. Cheers to what the team has achieved in the past year > achieving things that were never thought possible,” PharmEasy's Sheth wrote in an earlier LinkedIn post.
Many investors are writing down the valuation of their startup holdings around the world. 360One, an investor in Indian news aggregator startup Daily Hunt, recently wrote in a memo to its LPs that it had lowered its valuation of the Indian company to $2.9 billion from roughly $5 billion previously, TechCrunch reported last week.