Online pharmacy company Medlife International has acquired Medlabz, a digital healthcare platform and ‘diagnostics at home’ provider. It has earmarked ₹Rs 250 crore to make further acquisitions.

While Medlife did not disclose the acquisition sum, it said that the acquisition will help the company to make a stronger push into the diagnostics segment. 

“We are looking to acquire additional offline diagnostic chains as this market is currently under-penetrated,” said Tushar Kumar, CEO and Founder, Medlife.

Tech talent pool

 By acquiring Medlabz, which was founded by six IITians, Medlife is looking at a mix of the technology talent pool, something which need not be built from scratch. 

“They have the tech that can help see reports online, through the app or from WhatsApp,” said Prashant Singh, founder and Director, Medlife. Medlabz has around 30 employees, who will be taken over by Medlife.

At present, the country has seen a boom in pathology labs offering different types of tests – from metabolism to hormone testing. India has around 100,000 diagnostic laboratories, which include pathology laboratories and radiology centres, wherein less than 4 per cent of such labs are organised.

Medlife has an online pharmacy, which claims to be doing 15,000 deliveries every day across 23,000 pin codes, and also has 50 fulfilment centres. 

So far, it has raised $60 million, all internally.

Industry watchers opine that an increase in diagnostic chains, rather than stand-alone labs can theoretically reduce the cost of access to labs. “A lot of stand-alone labs have tie-ups with some of the big brands who offer them a commission on tests. Since we have the labs under our watch, our business is directly, with the customer rather than through a third party,” said Kumar.

So far, this thought has raked in decent business. Medlife has a ₹ 100 crore business in the lab segment, and has processed around 80,000 samples till date.