Tata Digital leads $40 mn funding round in 1mg, India’s 107th unicorn

NEW DELHI: Tata Digital has led a new investment round of $40 million in the online medicine ordering platform 1mg, making it the new unicorn (with a valuation of $1 billion and above) in the country.

The country now has 107 unicorns, with 1mg joining a growing unicorn list of health-tech startups like PharmEasy, Innovaccer, Curefit, and Pristyn Care.

Tata Digital acquired 1mg in June last year at a valuation of nearly $450 million.

In the fresh round, Tata Digital invested around $32 million for 24,711 equity shares in 1mg, along with other investors like KWE Beteiligungen AG and HBM Healthcare Investments.

Currently, 1mg claims to deliver 31 million orders a month across 20,000 pin codes in the country.

Startup news portal Entrackr was first to report the funding development in 1mg.

The investment comes on the heels of the launch of Tata Neu, the flagship super app launched by Tata Digital which aims to bring the conglomerate's data-driven omnichannel experience to consumers across multiple channels.

Tata Neu is a digital gateway for consumers to discover multiple products and services offered by the Tatas.

However, Tata Neu faces two challenges in bringing customers on to the Neu platform, according to brokerage house JM Financial Institutional Securities.

One, the categories on Neu are neither adjacent nor all-encompassing. It, therefore, will not be an automatic choice for customers looking for a one-stop shop.

Two, inventory in categories such as hotels, flights, and food is limited to Tata's own brands and will, therefore, limit the customer's choice and price discovery.

"We believe Tata identifies these challenges and does not expect most users to shift to Tata Neu immediately. While Tata Neu does offer NeuPass as an incentive for customers to transact on its platform, the underlying construct is not to change a customer's preferred shopping destination," the report said recently.