Medigo CEO Ha Le
Medigo, a Vietnam-based medtech platform, today announced that it has raised US$1 million in seed funding from Vietnam-based early-stage VC Touchstone Partners.
Medigo will use the funding to strengthen its technology and operation, increase customer base and expand the pharmacy network with a high number of stock-keeping units (SKUs).
A portion of the capital injection will also be utilised to build Medigo’s telemedicine that provides customer teleconsultation with doctors. This is in line with the product roadmap of Medigo as a connecting platform.
Founded in 2019 by CEO Ha Le, an experienced engineer returning to Vietnam from Germany, Medigo aims to connect users with remote and high-quality healthcare services that provide on-demand medicine delivery 24/7. It helps people find the nearest licensed pharmacies and order medicine to be delivered within 20 minutes.
The company claims that it has formed partnerships with more than 200 pharmacies including large pharmacy chains and hospital pharmacies across three key cities of Vietnam. These partners are all required to be certified and licensed by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health with experienced and dedicated pharmacists.
Medigo CEO said that most Vietnamese go to pharmacies as the first touchpoint for their medical symptoms. However, their quality is hard to verify.
“We want to use medicine delivery as a feature to educate users of online healthcare services and be familiar with remote pharmacists and doctors’ consultation, building a strong foundation for Medigo’s future telemedicine services,” stated Medigo CEO Ha Le.
Le added that Medigo is also developing more service offerings such as advertising and ordering medicine in bulk for the pharmacies in the network.
According to the press statement, Medigo is gaining traction by helping people buy medicine remotely from the comfort of their homes, especially during lockdowns. The firm boasts that its gross merchandise value (GMV) has increased eight times with more than 200,000 users in the past six months. These pharmacies partners have also registered a 20-50 per cent increase in revenue.
“We believe this trend will stay as we enter a re-opening period while still managing the pandemic in Vietnam,” said Tu Ngo, general partner of Touchstone Partners. “The investment also aligns with our ESG-friendly investment principles, building a platform for affordable and accessible high-quality healthcare services to the mass in Vietnam.”
The deal is one of the first investments of Touchstone Partners’s US$50 million debut fund since launching in April this year. The firm’s sectors of interest include fintech, real estate, healthcare, edutech, and technology that enhances efficiency in major Vietnamese value chains such as manufacturing and agriculture.
Also Read: Ex-VinaCapital Ventures exec’s US$50M fund Touchstone Partners hits first close
In Vietnam, 70 per cent of the Vietnamese population is living in rural or remote areas, which is a boon for the telehealth market to help address the medical personnel shortage and reduce overall healthcare costs.
According to the Facts and Factors market research report, the global telehealth market’s revenue is slated to grow to US$475.50 billion by 2026 at an annual CAGR of 26.5 per cent during 2021-2026.
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Image credit: Medigo
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