BENGALURU: Tata Digital, a unit of Tata Sons, said it is acquiring a majority stake in online pharmacy 1mg, days after its acquisition of CureFit and online grocery delivery company BigBasket.
The deal is another step by the Tatas to expand its presence in new age businesses and build a super-app, which would hold such ventures to help it compete better against Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Mart, Reliance Digital, Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart.
Earlier this week, Tata said it would invest $75 million in fitness start up Curefit, which was led by Mukesh Bansal.
As part of the deal.
Bansal is set to join Tata Digital as president.
The current deal pits Tata against Reliance, which also bought online pharmacy company Netmeds.
Demand for online pharmacy, grocery and other services have gone up over the last one year as more urban consumers made online purchases due to the pandemic.
The investment in 1mg strengthens Tata’s ability to provide superior customer experience and high-quality healthcare products and services in the e-pharmacy and e-diagnostics space through a technology-led platform,” said Tata Digital CEO Pratik Pal.
Started in 2015, 1mg counts Sequoia and Omidyar Networks among its investors and has served more than 27 million orders across more than 1,800 cities in the country, as per the company’s website.
Tata Digital said 1mg has three state-of-the-art diagnostics labs and a supply chain covering over 20,000 pin codes across the country.
“We are delighted to join hands with one of India’s most iconic and respected conglomerates.
This marks a significant milestone in 1mg’s journey to make high quality healthcare products accessible to customers across India,” said co-founder and CEO Prashant Tandon.