Pharmacy Daily | Directo’s $2 million raise

DIRECTO has successfully raised $2 million through a placement of new fully paid ordinary shares to sophisticated investors.

"The raise exceeded expectations in what is a difficult environment for raising capital," Directo Founder and Managing Director Gavin Upiter told Pharmacy Daily.

"We have had a number of customers, including pharmacies and suppliers, express interest in becoming shareholders throughout our capital raising campaign, and we are developing an incentive program for platform users wanting to become shareholders, that rewards them for their ongoing support," he commented.

The capital raise (PD 21 Jun)follows Directo's record trading quarter ending Jun, and again in Jul.

The funding will support Directo's next growth phase with the platform currently supporting over 3,000 pharmacy retailers, enabling them to order from a network of 200 suppliers and wholesalers, covering 45,000 multi-category products in a single transaction.

Upiter revealed that following "rapid growth over the past two years, with revenues doubling each year, we are now running at $40 million annualised revenue and have onboarded over half the nation's pharmacies".

Directo's technology-driven approach is aiming to transform Australia's $20 billion annual pharmacy wholesale market by digitising the supply chain.

"With the additional funds, we are well placed to onboard more pharmacies and suppliers and integrate AI-driven solutions into our platform," said Upiter.

He added that the past few years have seen unprecedented increases in the cost of the supply chain.

Together with a higher inflationary environment, this means that pharmacies and suppliers are now, more than ever, intent on finding ways to be more efficient in the supply chain, he explained.

"These factors are behind the growth we are experiencing as our technology-led virtual wholesaling model drives costs down by automating routine tasks, and simplifies the supply chain for buyers and sellers," said Upiter. JG