Pharmacy Mart Raises Six-Figure Bridge Round Led by Acasia Ventures

Egyptian healthtech startup Pharmacy Marts has secured a six-figure bridge round led by Acasia Ventures.

Founded in 2021 by Ahmed Kadous, Ahmed Mazhar, Haitham El Ghotni, and Mahmoud Shousha, Pharmacy Marts operates as a B2B digital marketplace facilitating the connection between pharmacies and medical suppliers. Their platform aims to simplify the process of accessing medicine, medical supplies, and cosmetics in order to streamline Egypt's pharmaceutical supply chain. The company claims to have captured 20% of Egypt's market, with over 200 suppliers currently onboard. Since its inception, Pharmacy Marts has amassed a total of $2 million in investments.

According to Pharmacy Marts, pharmacists in Egypt typically spend 30% of their time manually monitoring stock and verifying product availability and prices. This manual process often leads to delayed deliveries of medications, aggravated by the sector's fragmentation. With Egypt housing 60,000 pharmacies offering 7,000 products from 3,000 suppliers, the industry's connections remain rudimentary, relying heavily on manual methods and phone communication.

“Pharmacy Marts’ solid team has a fantastic track record and is successfully delivering a compelling digital solution to alleviate a big pain point for thousands of pharmacies and indirectly, millions of patients,'' Managing Partner at Acasia Ventures Aly El Shalakany tells StartupScene. “In a short period of time, Pharmacy Marts has emerged as a category leader in this space and we are confident it will continue to go from strength to strength.”

Pharmacy Marts aims to address these inefficiencies by providing an online platform that allows pharmacists to search for products, locate suppliers, obtain estimates, place orders, select payment methods, and receive deliveries within 24 hours. The platform offers working capital and long-term financing options, including ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ choices, aiming to assist pharmacists in securing suitable financing terms from wholesalers.