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Pharma giant 1mg acquires Homeobuy.com
Following its recent re-branding, newly formed HealthKart division 1mg has taken its first step in its expansion plans by acquiring Homeobuy.com. This is a move to expand its platform to alternative medicine space (AYUSH category). Homeobuy is a web platform for homeopathy medicines. Following the acquisition, 1mg will now re-brand the website to 1mgAyush.com and make homeopathic and ayurvedic medicines available to customers in New Delhi. 1mg is India’s leading mobile health platform and also leads the country as the largest e-pharmacy marketplace.
Apart from China, India uses the largest amount of medicinal plants for ayurvedic medicines. In the past ten years, there has been a considerable rise in the sale of these medicines. By entering this domain, 1mg can aggressively act on expanding its branches. Moreover, unlike the e-commerce platform that requires a new regulatory framework to define its place, the AYUSH categories have been supported by the Indian government.
Vivek Singh, ex- Ranbaxy executive, had launched Homeobuy recently with internal funding and later got funded by angel investor Amit Sodhi.
Singh says “I wanted to promote and raise awareness about AYUSH medicines among the customers and 1mg.com being the market leader in e-health, has the potential to grow my idea to India’s largest alternate medicine business.”
Talking about the new initiative, Prashant Tandon, Founder 1mg said “We are the platform that stands for consumer health and we believe the alternate forms of medicines are equally important. Having seen the importance of these alternative forms of medicines and our government’s support in promoting them, we aim at creating an exhaustive platform for all health solutions. The business will continue to work on a marketplace network model and partner with quality vendors in this sector. Vivek Singh has built a quality platform for homeopathic medicines and has developed deep domain skills for this sector. We are glad Vivek has joined the 1mg team to help drive these categories and together we intend to create India’s largest destination for alternate medicine as well”
Due to lesser chances of side-effects and the safe nature of these medicines, the consumer base has generated a rise in demands. 1mg plans to complement these growing demands through a comprehensive platform that gives the correct data and access to quality brands in this industry.
HealthKart is currently eying at a Series C funding worth 30 million. With the re-branding, it now exists as 1mg for pharmaceutical services and HealthKart for fitness solutions. Read the story here.
Check out My Big Plunge’s video feature on HealthKart :
