Wellness Forever raises Rs 130 cr from UAE's Allana group, Adar Poonawalla and others

(L-R) Mohan Chavan, Gulshan Bakhtiani, and Ashraf Biran, founders of Wellness Forever

Pharmacy retail chain Wellness Forever on November 9 said it has raised Rs 130 crore from UAE-based Allana Group, Adar Poonawalla, and other existing investors, including banker Rajiv Dadlani and venture capitalist Sajid Fazalbhoy.

The company said it will utilise funds for store expansion, strengthening its highly profitable private label brands under its subsidiary Amore, and invest more in e-commerce.

The company plans to add over 150 more stores in the next year and 1,000 retail outlets in the next three years.

The company has an existing online to offline strategy via omni-channel, hyperlocal delivery which it plans to leverage off e-commerce and tele-commerce which is already growing into a large part of the company’s sales mix.

Wellness Forever, started a decade ago, is expected to end this fiscal year with revenues of over Rs 1,000 crore. The company has swiftly expanded its footprint to over 200 stores in Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka.

Promoted by Gulshan Bakhtiani, Ashraf Biran, and Mohan Chavan, the company said it has been profitable since inception and growing 35 percent year-on-year. It employs over 4,000 people, including over 800 qualified pharmacists and has over 1 million customers.

Wellness Forever said it has hired JM Financial for a secondary share sale for early investors and for pre IPO preparations.

The company is on track to achieve sales of around Rs 4,000 crore in the next 3-4 years with a 1,000 store count across the country. The company said it saw investor interest from several reputed private equity funds, but decided to go with existing investors given their tremendous expertise in FMCG, retail, and pharma.

Please read here more about Wellness Forever  and its business.

“The promoters having a collective experience of over 100 years, of operating profitable pharmacies, along with their management team, have done a splendid job and the company enjoys amongst the highest operating metrics and productivity, in the entire retail space. Given their impressive track record and vision, we continue to partake as long-term investors, and support them in their amazing journey, and next phase of growth,” said Rajiv Dadlani, from the Family Office of the Rajiv Dadlani Group, and lead investor in the company.

“With this round of funding, we plan to strengthen our private labels that have gained popularity over the years. We will continue to add more retail stores and reach out to our customers not just through brick-and-mortar outlets, but also through online channels,” said Gulshan Bhaktiani, Founder and Director of Wellness Forever.