Janus Henderson, the US-based asset management company has slashed the valuation of API Holdings, the parent of Mumbai-headquartered online pharmacy firm PharmEasy. 

According to a report by The Economic Times (ET), the global firm cut down the valuation of its holdings in the start-up by 50 per cent. It acquired a stake in the company in 2021. 

Prior to this, Neuberger Berman, a New York-based investment management firm slashed PharmEasy’s valuation by 21 per cent to 4.4 billion as of February 28. 

In 2021, it raised more than $1 billion in funding, including venture debt funds. It witnessed its valuation jumping to $5.5 billion from $1.5 billion. 

In April 2023, the company became EBITDA-positive for the first time since its inception. It recorded Rs 14 crore in EBITDA and Rs 600 crore in revenues. Its parent firm API Holdings indulged with the company’s existing investors including Canada’s CPDQ and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ to raise investment of around $50-100 million. 

“They were at around minus Rs 80 crore of EBITDA during the same month last year. The company, which has been under pressure to cut costs, has been aggressively consolidating operating costs as well as streamlining its acquisitions which have led to April numbers,” a person, aware of the development, told ET. 

Amid funding winter, multiple highly-valued Indian tech firms witnessed a valuation slash. This includes companies like edtech firm Byju’s, food tech firm Swiggy, fintech firm Pine Labs and Ola.