The company behind growing online pharmacy Chemist4U has received a 拢12m investment from聽Pitalia Capital.
The Skelmersdale-based business is part of JCCO Healthcare, which also includes the weight management platform myBMI.
John Davies, managing partner of Pitalia Capital, will join the board following the investment.
Bolton-based Pitalia Capital is an equity investment company funded by Anil Pitalia, founder of SpaMedica, and specialises in聽healthcare and manufacturing.
Turbocharge growth
James O鈥橪oan, chief executive officer of both Chemist4U and myBMI, said the funding would 鈥榯urbocharge鈥� growth.
Chemist4U has聽acquired a聽c40,000 sq ft property聽in Skelmersdale to centralise its operations and plans to increase its workforce from 120 to 150 inside 18 months.
The online pharmacy handles 190,000 orders a month and is on track to hit 拢29m turnover in the 12 months to the end of September 鈥� up from 拢21m in 2021/22.
MyBMI was founded in 2021 and is a bespoke weight management HealthTech platform, giving patients access to the world鈥檚 best weight loss treatments and is on track to hit 拢10m turnover in 2023/24.
O鈥橪oan said: 鈥淥ur plan is for Chemist4U to become one of the biggest NHS dispensing facilities in the country聽as well as support partners with our outsourced dispensing services which is our fastest growing division.”
O鈥橪oan and his business partner, COO Ricardo Laverty, hadn鈥檛 been seeking investment until a meeting with聽Pitalia changed their mind.
He said:聽鈥淲e鈥檝e had plenty of investor interest but because we were profitable we didn鈥檛 feel the need聽to rush.
鈥淎nil was assisting us with acquiring the property in Skelmersdale and wanted to get on board as an investor to turbocharge the growth.
鈥淎s soon as I met Anil I really connected with him. He鈥檚 a healthcare professional聽like myself and he has already been hugely successful with SpaMedica.鈥�
Chemist4U was launched to disrupt the pharmacy industry through technology.
O鈥橪oan, who joined Chemist4U as a superintendent pharmacist聽in 2012聽before becoming CEO in 2018, said: 鈥淲e are trying to digitalise NHS, over-the-counter and private medicine provisions.
鈥淲hen your doctor writes a prescription it will come to us electronically and we can automatically ship it out to you from our warehouse with next day delivery,聽with the whole journey tracked on the Chemist4U app.
鈥淚t means you can order and receive a prescription without leaving your home simply by聽using our app.鈥�
NHS dispensing is one of three divisions within , alongside an over-the-counter medicine platform –聽聽– and a white labelled outsourced dispensing聽pharmacy service.
O鈥橪oan said: 鈥淲e already have automation in place. The new premises will allow us to expand the robotics, centralise the dispensing and bring a really efficient process to customers聽and partners.”
Earlier this month the weight loss drug Wegovy was launched in the UK and聽O鈥橪oan said the investment would allow myBMI to expand its services聽further聽in relation to weight management.
He explained: 鈥淲e review the patient digitally, we check their NHS summary care record to make sure the medicine is safe for them and we write to their GP to let them know we鈥檙e having a private consultation with them for this medication. We then provide them with the medicine and guide them through this weight loss journey.鈥�
Anil Pitalia, head of , said:聽鈥淛ames and Ricardo have done an incredible job and are a very entrepreneurial and innovative team.
Growth potential
鈥淭hey鈥檝e really embraced technology. To be able to get your medication delivered to your doorstep the next day without having to go to another pharmacy is hugely convenient and efficient. We see huge growth potential.
鈥淚n terms of myBMI, they are already leaders in this field and it鈥檚 an area where they see they can add a lot of value, particularly on the NHS side when trying to tackle the obesity crisis.鈥�
John Davies, managing partner at Pitalia Capital, said: 鈥淭he margins in the pharmacy sector are so tight that some pharmacies are failing. The only way to make it financially viable is through the diversification of the service/product 聽offering and automation at higher volumes, and C4U now has the infrastructure and fire power to deliver this at a significant scale.鈥�
Paul Medlicott of Addleshaw Goddard聽advised聽JCCO Healthcare while聽James Kennedy of Cowgills聽and Jonathan Gillow of Hill Dickinson聽acted for Pitalia Capital.
Other advisors in the deal included Alex Hall and Sonia Hands at Claritas Tax; Jenny Kirkham and Lucas Thornley at Cortus; Gareth Elliott at PMSI Strategy; Paul Cook at UKGlobal Risk Solutions.