Tata Digital strengthens Super App focus with acquisition of majority stake in 1mg

Tata Digital has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in 1mg, an online healthcare marketplace. The company, however, has not disclosed the financial details of the transaction. This comes days after the company announced its plans to invest $75 million in cure.fit for an undisclosed stake.

“The investment in 1mg strengthens Tata's ability to provide superior customer experience and high-quality healthcare products & services in the e-pharmacy and e-diagnostics space through a technology-led platform,” Tata Digital CEO Pratik Pal said in a statement. 1mg Co-founder and CEO Prashant Tandon added, “The investment by the Tatas marks a significant milestone in 1MG's journey to make high-quality healthcare products and services accessible to customers across India.”

Creating a digital ecosystem to address consumer needs across categories, states Tata.

The company has announced that this investment in 1MG is in line with Tata Group's vision of creating a digital ecosystem that addresses consumer needs across categories in a unified manner. In layman terms, it means that the acquisition comes at the heels of creating a Super App.

Tata Digital said e-pharmacy, e-diagnostics and teleconsultation are critical segments in this ecosystem. They have been among the fastest-growing segments in this space with the healthcare boom through the pandemic.

Read More: The e-pharmacy sector to see a paradigm shift post-pandemic

The overall market is around USD 1 billion with growth at around 50% CAGR. The company added that health awareness among consumers and greater convenience has driven the demand. Thus, this category will form a key element of the Tata Digital ecosystem offering.

About 1mg

The 6-year-old startup is among the leading players in the eHealth space. It enables easy and affordable access to a wide range of products like medicines, health and wellness products. It also provides diagnostics services and teleconsultation to customers.

The company currently operates three state-of-the-art diagnostic labs. Further, it has a supply chain covering over 20,000 pin codes across the country. Through its subsidiaries, 1mg also works in the business of B2B distribution of medicines and other healthcare products.

Tata's Super App ambition

The salt-to-software conglomerate Tata group has been on an acquisition spree in the e-commerce space. Last month it had acquired a majority stake in online grocery seller BigBasket for an undisclosed sum of money, pitting it against the likes of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance and Amazon. The deal would pit the salt-to-software conglomerate against Ambani's JioMart, Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart for a pie of the online grocery business that has grown exponentially during the pandemic.