PharmEasy's annus horribilis may get worse before it gets better
API Holdings Limited, the parent of online pharmacy PharmEasy, is having a nightmare of 2022.
The company, which was riding high following its multi-million-dollar acquisition of Thyrocare Technologies last year that propelled its valuation to a peak of $5.1 billion, is finding it hard to raise even a few million dollars.
The funding winter confronting startups this year owing to surging global interest rates, the capitulation of technology stocks and increasing investor dislike for loss-making, cash-burning companies has hit PharmEasy hard.
In August, the company shelved its plans for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), which itself was reported to be at a valuation that was 15-25 percent lower than the 2021 level, in favour of a rights issue to investors.
Fear of its inability to convince public investors to fork out $200 million, at a time when loss-making technology companies were subjects of investor derision, was blamed for the IPO being put on hold.
