Indian firm Pharmarack Technologies said it hopes to land $2 million in venture capital to fund development of an online order and inventory management system for pharmacies and distributors in India.
Industry publication VCCircle cited Pradyumn Singh, CEO of Pharmarack, as saying that existing investor Unicorn India Ventures and others are in late-stage talks on the funds.
“While the existing investors have agreed to put in a part of the targeted amount, we are also in talks with a few marquee venture capital firms. We expect to close the round by the end of June,” Singh told the publication.
India's pharmacy and drug distribution network is highly fragmented with a noticeable absence of nationwide chain operations that makes tracking products and inventory management difficult.
Founder Singh and partners want to offer the software across players in the industry as a way to keep track in real-time via web and mobile versions, telling VCCircle that most companies in India’s pharma sector lack detailed reports on what happens to product after manufacturing--often leading to poor inventor management and uncertain manufacturing schedules.
The software is now in use in the Maharashtra state cities of Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nashik; the company aims to be in 35 cities by the end of the year with a monthly cost for users set to be around INR4,000 ($69) a month.
- here's the story from VCCircle