Matrix Partners, RTP Global lead seed round in India Quotient-backed Saveo

Saveo Healthtech Pvt. Ltd, which operates a business-to-business e-commerce marketplace for pharmacies, has raised $4 million (about Rs 29 crore) in seed capital.

The round in the Bengaluru-based startup has been co-led by Matrix Partners India and RTP Global, the company said in a statement. Other participants in the round include Incubate Fund and existing investor India Quotient.

A clutch of angel investors also took part in this round, including Cred founder Kunal Shah; BigBasket co-founders V.S. Sudhakar and Vipul Parekh; BlackBuck founder Rajesh Yabaji; OfBusiness co-founders Asish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra; Yulu co-founders Amit Gupta, Naveen Dachuri and R.K. Misra; Mosaic Wellness co-founder Revant Bhate; ShopKirana co-founder Sumit Ghorawat; and Trafigura India CEO Raoul Bajaj.

This seed fundraise comes just two weeks after pharmacy-focused Saveo announced that it had acqui-hired Gurugram-based retail startup ShuttrStores. Saveo said the move would help it strengthen its overall ecosystem.

Saveo was founded in 2019 by Amit Kumar, Anurag Savarnya, Shivansh Shrivastava and Vivek Jaiswal. The company says it provides pharmacies with a single procurement point for several categories of medicines and helps them grow their business through its platform.

The company will use the capital raised in this round to enhance its technological infrastructure and deepen its market penetration. It is currently providing services to more than 5,000 pharmacies across Karnataka, including over 2,000 in Bengaluru, and is looking to increase this figure to more than 1 lakh across the country in the next 18 months.

“We believe that Saveo’s value proposition of the widest possible catalogue, 95%+ fill rates, better pricing and transparency have enabled it to quickly gain momentum in the pharmacy market in and around Bangalore,” said Rajat Agarwal, managing director, Matrix Partners India.

The startup says it raised Rs 2 crore (about $270,000) in March last year in a round led by early-stage venture firm India Quotient and First Cheque, with participation from Better Capital and founders of firms including ShareChat, OkCredit, Generico and Giva.