Founded in April 2015 by Prashant Tandon, Gaurav Agarwal, and Vikas Chauhan, Tata 1 Mg is LegitScript certified integrated healthcare platform based in Gurgaon.
It was previously known as 1 Mg, and he provides services like e-pharmacy, diagnostics, e-consultation, and health content.
History of 1 mg
Bright Lifecare Private Limited (BLPL), back in 2012, started a digital healthcare platform which was called HealthkartPlus. In 2015, it separated from BLPL and formed 1 Mg Technologies Private Limited.
On the one hand, Healthkart continued as a platform for health and fitness products while 1 Mg became a generic drug search business. The primary goal was to make healthcare accessible as well as economical.
This Gurgaon-based digital health platform still maintains a database containing information on the side effects, substitutes FMCG, lab tests, and provides home deliveries for pharmacies. Further, in June 2021, Tata Digital Ltd. acquired a 55% stake in 1 Mg and formed Tata 1 Mg.
Fundings
It has raised a total of $204.6M in about 16 rounds. The latest funding raised was from a Debt Financing round on April 19, 2021.
Total 17 investors fund it, with Tata group and International finance corporation being the most recent investors.
The platform has acquired by about 3 organizations, with their most recent being Dawailelo, on September 1, 2017.
Investors
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Redwood Global healthcare fund, InnoVen Capit, Maverick Ventures, etc.
Acquisition and Partnership
In 2016, 1Mg acquired Meditative Angles, which involved medical insurance and corporate health and Med. In, which is an online marketplace to book diagnostic and imaging tests.
In 2017, it acquired Homeobuy, an online homoeopathic drug store, and rebranded it under 1 Mg Ayush, which now deals in homoeopathic and ayurvedic medicines.
The same year, 1 Mg expanded its operation in tier I and tier II cities by acquiring a Varanasi-based startup called Dawailelo. In 2018, it acquired LFS healthcare Pvt Ltd called Droplet and Delhi Mediart Pvt Ltd. (DMPL).
On the one hand, Droplet allowed home collection for diagnostics, while DMPL provided wholesale trading of pharmaceuticals and healthcare products.
Tata 1 mg – Business model
The platform makes money by providing online diagnostics and lab testing services. While these account for most of the annual revenues, Online medicine delivery, B2B healthcare solutions, and subscription-based care plans hold up the rest of the yearly finances.
In the past 1 year, 1mg expanded its pharmacies to about 600 cities and included their product range in homoeopathy and Ayurveda.
The company uses its app to spread information on medicines and uses offline advertisements as applicable. Even use newspapers and health camps for ads, but most of them are digital.
About the Founder
The company’s founder, Prashant, is born and based in New Delhi. He is an MBA graduate from the renowned Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-D).
Before 1 Mg, Prashant was the co-founder and managing director of another startup, Healthkart, which started in 2011 and Rised to become Indias no.1 Nutrition eCommerce company. Before returning to India in 2009, he worked at McKinsey and Company in San Francisco, where his primary focus was healthcare.
His career started with the Business Leadership program at Hindustan Unilever, India. There he worked in roles in Pan Asia for innovation and development operations.
In 2010, he returned to India to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in the burgeoning health technology space, where he Co-Founded HeakthKart.
Tata 1 mg Services
They provide Pharmacy- buy medicines online Sehat ka Saathi- Program to get medicine franchises at low cost.
Tata 1mg labs: Book free collection of samples from home for lab tests.
e-Consultation: consultation of doctor from the comfort of one’s home.
OTC: Order healthcare and wellness products.
Tata 1 Mg Ayush: Ayurvedic and homoeopathy medicines home delivery.
Achievements
- 2014- won the m-billionth award for m-health in South Asia. Also recognized as the most promising Healthcare startup by News Corp VC Circle.
- 2016- acknowledged as the best app in the medical category by Gmasa.
- They have also won an award for the best online Pharmacy in India at the International quality awards. In the same year, they achieved the title of ‘New kid on the Block’ at the NDTV Unicorn Awards.
- 1 Mg was recognized as one of the top 50 ventures startup India, 2017 program around in 2017, the company had grown up by 600% in the app’s success and user management.
- In 2016-2017, the company had raised about 37 million dollars through 5 rounds of funding.
- 2018- won the BML Munjal Award for ‘Business excellence through Learning and development’ and also Won the ‘Best content in a Healthacre/Fitness app‘ title in content leadership awards.
- They are also recognized as the ‘Best Mobile Innovation for Health award’ at India Mobile Congres.
Future Plans
The company has decided to expand it’s plans and the scope of its platform and is now entering the alternate medical spaces (AYUSH categories) through the acquisition of Homeobuy.com. A Platform for homoeopathy medicines.
With this particular acquisition, 1mg will rebrand the website to www.1mgAyush.com and make ayurvedic and homoeopathic medicines available to customers in New Delhi. The Indian Government is also actively supporting and developing the AYUSH categories.
Since, TATA Digital acquired the majority of stakes in 1mg, the company has now announced that they are looking forward to promising 60-minute deliveries in selected locations around the country.
1mg is already known for 4-5 hour deliveries in many locations, which will eventually be extended to other areas as well.
Read More: Tata 1 Mg: The Unbelievable Story of Online Healthcare Platform
