Online pharmacy secures Pakistan's biggest health care funding

PAKISTAN'S MedznMore raised more than US$11.5 million in the country's largest funding round by a health-care startup, helping the company expand services and hire more tech talent.

Investors in the pre-Series A round included Integra Partners, Sturgeon Capital and Nunc Gestion, the company said Thursday (May 12) in a statement.

The firm, which employs more than 800 people and operates in the cities of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, sells drugs to pharmacies and retail customers. It's among a small but steadily rising number of young Pakistani companies attracting foreign investors - the country had a breakout year in 2021 with startups raising more funds than over the previous 6 years combined.

"By the end of this year we expect to be in 7 to 8 new cities," chief executive officer Asad Khan said in an interview. "A lot of this capital will be spent on these cities to build warehouses, have omni-channel stores, staff and inventory."

The Karachi-based startup raised US$2.6 million in September 2020, the country's largest seed round at the time, and will aim for a Series A round by the end of the year, Khan said.

Khan and Saad Khawar, who've both previously worked in the health care sector, and former investment banker Babar Lakhani founded MedznMore in 2020 with the aim of providing Pakistanis easy access to genuine drugs in a market notorious for spurious medicines. BLOOMBERG