Truemeds, an online pharmacy, is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire ecommerce unicorn DealShare through a share-swap transaction, according to the Economic Times. The deal could value DealShare at around $90 million, a significant drop from its peak valuation of $1.7 billion in 2022. Entrackr was the first to report these potential acquisition talks.
DealShare’s Struggles and Restructuring
Founded in 2018 by Sourjyendu Medda, Vineet Rao, Sankar Bora, and Rajat Shikhar, DealShare started as a community-led ecommerce platform targeting value-conscious consumers in smaller cities and towns. It has raised nearly $400 million from investors like WestBridge Capital, Z47, Tiger Global, and Alpha Wave Global. The startup entered the unicorn club in 2022 after raising $165 million in a Series E round led by Tiger Global, Alpha Wave Global, and Kora Investment. A subsequent $45 million infusion from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority took its valuation to $1.7 billion.
However, DealShare faced mounting pressure as competition in India’s ecommerce market intensified, particularly from larger horizontal ecommerce platforms and quick commerce players that have expanded aggressively into smaller cities. In response to these challenges, DealShare undertook a restructuring process in 2023. It shut down its B2B vertical, laid off over 100 employees, scaled back its geographical presence, and moved its headquarters from Bengaluru to Delhi NCR. This restructuring was accompanied by the departure of DealShare’s entire founding team. Vineet Rao, who served as CEO, and Sankar Bora, the COO, left the startup in 2023. Sourjyendu Medda subsequently stepped down as CEO in January 2024.
Despite these efforts, DealShare’s financial performance continued to decline. Its revenue from operations fell to around ₹432 crore in FY25 from ₹499 crore in FY24 and nearly ₹1,963 crore in FY23. While its loss narrowed to ₹87.65 crore in FY25 from ₹167 crore in FY24, the company’s overall financial performance remained on a downward trend.
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Truemeds’ Expansion and the Potential Acquisition
Truemeds, founded in 2019 by Akshat Nayyar and Kunal Wani, operates an online pharmacy and sells healthcare devices. It has raised over $175 million, including an $85 million Series C funding round from Accel, Peak XV Partners, WestBridge Capital, and Info Edge Ventures in August 2022. This round valued Truemeds at over $400 million. The healthtech startup plans to use this capital to expand its fulfillment network in non-metro markets, strengthen its engineering and product teams, and establish a technology hub in Bengaluru.
Under the proposed acquisition structure, Truemeds is expected to issue shares to DealShare’s investors at a valuation of about $600 million. The proposed valuation is only marginally higher than DealShare’s cash balance of over $90 million, indicating that the transaction is largely centered on DealShare’s cash reserves rather than its operating business. This would allow Truemeds to access these funds without making an upfront cash payment. WestBridge Capital, a common investor in both startups, would play a significant role in facilitating the deal.
The acquisition, if successful, would represent a significant change in DealShare’s fortune, as its valuation would plummet to approximately 5% of its peak valuation. It remains unclear whether DealShare’s existing operations and brand would continue after the proposed acquisition. Both companies did not respond to Inc42’s queries at the time of publishing this story. The story will be updated upon receiving a response.
