VIETNAM, HO CHI MINH CITY / SINGAPORE, 3 September 2021 — BuyMed, the operator of Thuocsi.vn, the largest online pharma distribution marketplace in Vietnam, announced today a US$9m Series A financing round led by Korean venture capital fund Smilegate Investment with participation from B Capital Group and existing investors Cocoon Capital, Genesia Ventures, Sequoia Capital India’s Surge and Nextrans. With this new round, BuyMed has raised US$12.8 million in total funding. In 2020, it secured US$2.5 million in a pre-series A round led by Sequoia Capital and Genesia Ventures.
With the COVID-19 lockdown in Vietnam, most pharmacies, mom-and-pop stores and clinics have been allowed to operate. However, buying pharmaceutical products from traditional wholesale markets or through the network of medical sales representatives has become difficult, if not impossible. Using Thuocsi.vn has saved the day for thousands of merchants across Vietnam over the last 18 months.
Headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, Thuocsi.vn is a B2B, full-stack pharmaceutical and healthcare marketplace that sits at the centre of Vietnam’s new, digital procurement ecosystem. Through its state-of-the-art platform, pharmacies and other healthcare practitioners can continue to access a wide variety of vetted, legitimate products transported and kept with relevant cold chain protocols.
In January 2021, BuyMed expanded to Hanoi to establish its national distribution and fulfilment platform, allowing it to deliver products across 63 provinces and cities. The company has grown four times over the last 12 months, currently processing over 30,000 orders per month having shipped supplies and pharmaceuticals to over 16,000 pharmacies across Vietnam. The platform now has 1,000 suppliers, distributors and manufacturers, ensuring the availability of a wide range of products that are all verified and safe to use. The fresh funds will be used to grow BuyMed’s distribution network both in Vietnam and in other parts of Southeast Asia.
By bridging the gap between the privately-owned pharmacy market silo-ed from pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers, BuyMed has provided tremendous operational efficiency improvements and transparency to the Vietnamese healthcare market. With the Thuocsi.vn platform, customers have seen up to 75% time savings, 20% more profit and 80% less working capital requirements.
“Our mission is to ensure the modernisation of the Vietnamese healthcare industry. Thuocsi.vn is driving the adoption of online healthtech throughout the ecosystem. With the pandemic, we have seen healthcare practitioners accelerate digitalisation which in the long run will lead to healthcare practitioners becoming more resilient and ensure business continuity in times of crisis, both in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia”, said Peter Nguyen, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BuyMed.
“The pharmaceutical sector in Vietnam has long suffered from a complicated distribution system and unreliable logistics. BuyMed’s team with its innovative business model is poised to tackle these long-standing legacy issues. Over the last few months, their tremendous traction has turned their vision into reality. We are truly excited to join BuyMed on their journey in streamlining the US$65bn pharmaceutical market in Southeast Asia”, said Kyounghwan Kim, Senior Vice President, Smilegate Investment
Disclaimer: This article is submitted to us and handpicked by VC News Network editors to be published. Due diligence has been made, but we do not guarantee the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of the articles. Kindly contact us at hello[at]vcnewsnetwork.com if there are any errors.
