The latest addition to India’s burgeoning on-demand economy has been pharmacy. And on that note, another drugs delivery app CareOnGo has raised a $290K angel round from a consortium of investors led by Farooq Oomerbhoy (via ET).
CareOnGo, founded last year, co-brands with corner pharmacies across cities and helps them in hyperlocal delivery of drugs, thus in turn helping in improving their supply chain. The startup has been functional for close to six months and has amassed an impressive 38K regiustered users on its platform, and is available in Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore.
Co-founder Aditya Kandoi says,
Most of the micro-pharmacies face stiff competition from the pharmacy chains. We help them with solutions such as inventory management, procurement through our network of super-stockists which also helps them avoid counterfeit medicines.
Also, if you’re wondering as to how the recent DGCI order of banning companies to sell drugs online would affect CareOnGo — well it won’t. This is largely because CareOnGo is merely acting as a medium for local pharmacies to distribute drugs and is not selling it online on its own, thus letting it escape pretty safely from all the new regulations implied recently.
According to the latest order issued by the drug regulator in India, Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has put a ban on the sale of online medicines and drugs. The ban however is temporary until the report comes out from a 7-member committee which was constituted in December for finding out the potential consequences of such online drug sales.
Apart from commissions for lead generation, the app also generates 7 to 8% commission of the transaction value for sourcing which is shared between the company and retailer.
