1mg - Exceptional Care Close to You
1mg is a key player in the online pharmacy sector, which is registering good growth due to the growing E-commerce in India. While E-pharmacies are yet to take off like other online businesses, entrepreneurs believe the sector has a lot of potential. Currently there are two kinds of operators in the field - one, who are working with partner pharmacies that drop the medicines home (such as Meramedicare and 1mg) and those that directly deliver the meds, for example, Medidart and Buydrug (which has physical pharmacy outlets). Advancement of e-commerce in India significantly opened a space to market most of the products which can reach almost everybody. Online pharmacy is one among the products which has the potential to create a huge demand in the coming days.
While India’s Rs 85,000 crore pharmaceutical industry is growing in double digits, Pradeep Dadha, CEO, NetMeds, is of the opinion that the online pharmacy industry could grow to 4-5 per cent of total industry, reaching Rs 5,000 crore by 2020.
Online e-pharma startups in India have already raised US$ 92.6 million in funding so far. At present, India has about 45-50 e-pharma startups, major players being 1mg.com, Bookmeds, mChemist, Medidart, Medlife, Medstar, Netmeds, Pharmeasy, Zigy.com (PM Health & Life Care), SaveOnMedicals and Savemymeds.
Started in 2013 as Healthkartplus, 1mg was established as a part of the Healthkart family. The initial funding, that it procured from Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Kae Capital and Omidyar Network, was used to set up the technology and resources to scale the business. However, 1mg now operates as a separate entity. The company was founded by Prashant Tandon (B.Tech (IIT-D), MBA (Stanford)), Gaurav Agarwal (B.Tech (IIT-D)), and Vikas Chauhan (MBA Somaiya).
The company has the following accolades as a trusted healthcare provider-
- Recognised by Government of India - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a m-health initiative that consumers can use.
- Winner of m-Billionth award for m-Health in South Asia
- Finalist in e-health category at Manthan Award - Asia Pacific - In partnership with Government of India.
1mg mainly aims to free the buyers from going out and checking five medical stores for buying medicines when they can do it with a single click. They also suggest about medicines which have the same composition as prescribed by the doctor but can be considerably cheaper.
1mg Key Facts
- 1mg has recently completely two rounds of funding. The digital healthcare platform raised funding from HBM Healthcare Investments. Prior to that, it had closed Series B round of INR 100 crore led by Maverick Capital Ventures. Existing investors Sequoia India and Omidyar Network had also participated in the Series B funding round.
- HBM is a global healthcare-focused fund, managing a fund size of around $1 billion. It focuses on development stage, growth and buy-out financings of private companies, and also invests in public companies.
- 1mg is using the funds to expand online pharmacy and diagnostics vertical, and launch digital health services such as smart prescriptions and personalised health feeds for consumers. It also plans to widen its reach from the current 12 cities to 30 by March 2017.
- 1mg proudly states that it has over 6 million app download and 80 million annual visits on its platform. The company offers a database of about 100,000 medicines with detailed information on their side-effects and composition. It also allows consumers to do a price comparison among multiple brands of medicines with the same composition.
- The online healthcare start-up has also recently acquired diagnostic labs aggregator Medd (HolaMed Healthcare Technologies Pvt. Ltd) in order to strengthen its diagnostic hold. However, the transaction value stands undisclosed.
1mg Categories
1mg operates an online marketplace for medicines, besides facilitating medical appointments and diagnostic test bookings. The e-diagnostic service of 1mg is currently available across 23 cities while having fruitful tie-ups with certified laboratories. It is hassle-free for users to book an appointment for sample collection from home and receive their test results online with the added option of receiving a paper copy.
Their popular OTC Categories include:
1mg Online Offers
Just like many other e-commerce players, 1mg is also driven to provide best products at competitive rates to its buyers. There are 1mg Coupons and discount codes for first time buyers. The company offers deeper 1mg offers for app users. The app can be downloaded for Android and Apple smartphones for free.
The company can also be followed on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn for recent offers and product updates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How does my prescription get validated?
A. 1mg check if a registered medical practitioner has generated the prescription. They then look at the date of visit and duration of medication, to check if the prescription has expired. They also check if the quantity of medicines ordered matches with the prescription.
Q. Where can I check my order status?
A. You will receive regular SMS & Emails about your order. You can also track your order from your order history section. If there is any delay or change in your order, their customer care will call and inform you.
Q. What is a generic substitute?
A. Substitutes depend on the composition and strength of constituent salts. Substitute are medicines made by other manufactures using the same salt composition as your prescribed medicine .These medicines are often more affordable. Please note that substitutes change with the salt strength, even for same medicine name.
.jpg)
Verified On: 19 April 2024