Truemeds, a telehealth platform in India, has brought home $22 million in a Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital. 

Its existing investors, InfoEdge Ventures, Asha Impact and IAN Fund, also joined the investing round.

WHAT IT DOES

Through its propriety algorithms, Truemeds recommends alternative value medicines. Customers can get a free e-consultation after uploading their prescriptions or placing an order. Currently serving more than 500,000 customers, the Android and web-based service also offers free medicines delivery around the state of Maharashtra.

WHAT IT'S FOR

The company in a statement said it plans to use its fresh funds to accelerate growth in local untapped markets while expanding its coverage across India.

Over the next six months, Truemeds will be tripling its fulfilment centres to improve its reach. Presently, the telehealth firm is fulfilling over 100,000 orders monthly.

The latest fundraising event follows last year's Series A investing round where the company raised $5 million.

WHY IT MATTERS

Akshat Nayyar, CEO and co-founder of Truemeds, is of the view that there is a pseudo-categorisation of medicines in India to create different price tiers between them. He claims that 95% of the drugs sold in India are "off-patent" or generic. "There is absolutely no difference in the scientific composition of generics and branded drugs," he said.

As over 250 million Indian patients with chronic diseases spend between 15%-20% of their family income on medicines, Truemeds is recommending value generic alternatives to help patients save up to 70% in their medicine spending. 

The domestic generic-generic market, according to Truemeds, is growing 1.5 times the overall pharmaceutical market, mirroring the growth of the generic prescription market share in the US, which jumped to 85% in 2019 from 40% in 2005.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

There have been a number of acquisitions of digital pharmacies in India recently. 1MG Technologies, which operates a digital health platform offering medicines, online diagnostics, and teleconsultations, has sold a majority of its shares to Tata Digital, the IT service arm of Tata Sons. 

Flipkart, one of the leading e-commerce firms in India, also bought a majority stake in online pharmacy startup SastaSundar, which was recently relaunched as Flipkart Health+.