Latest news with #Medikabazaar
Mint
7 days ago
- Business
- Mint
How Medikabazaar's new CEO is trying to turn around the business, target profitability this year
Medikabazaar, the medical equipment supplier, expects to put the controversies surrounding the startup behind it as it targets profitability this year, CEO Dinesh Lodha told Mint in an exclusive interview. The startup, which is entangled in legal disputes, has started exports and is expanding its portfolio offerings to drive growth. Lodha, who was appointed group CEO in August 2024, said the business is turning around and that will help rebuild confidence among its investors and customers. 'This is the third quarter going on, [since] I joined, and in the last two quarters there are significant changes happening in the business. We have cut down our loss by 80% by quarter four from quarter one," he told Mint. 'In Q4 we ended up at a revenue run rate of ₹2,200 crore, with some losses. Next year, we're looking at a run rate of ₹3,200 crore by Q4FY26, with Ebitda profitability. For the first time the company will show a solid profitability and a good cash flow." Lodha said his mandate is to run the business and that the dispute between investors is not a distraction. 'The team is very focused. And my approach is also very focused," said Lodha. 'The way things are getting turned around, I think people are getting more and more confident. We are not losing customers because of this." The Mumbai-based B2B medical supply chain platform has been mired in controversy and legal disputes following a whistleblower complaint in December 2023 accusing the then-senior management of round-tripping of accounts to inflate revenue and other irregularities. The allegations have been validated by forensic audits. The company's auditor resigned, its FY23 financials were restated, and its leadership was overhauled. Founder's ouster Co-founder Vivek Tiwari stepped down as chief executive officer in July 2024 to take on a board role. He was then ousted by the company's board in April 2025 over allegations of malicious and fraudulent activities, including financial mismanagement and financial fraud. Tiwari is fighting cases in multiple jurisdictions, including the Delhi High Court and the National Company Law Tribunal. In an earlier interview to Mint, he denied allegations of financial misreporting. Also Read | Medikabazaar's ousted CEO denies board's allegations of financial irregularities Additionally, the company's Series C investors including Creagis, CDC Group, HealthQuad and Ackermans & van Haaren, filed an indemnity claim, or compensation, of ₹279 crore against the company over allegations of financial misreporting. Lodha comes with over two decades of experience in the healthcare and medtech space, having previously worked as group CEO at Healthium Medtech, country head for Samsung's healthcare vertical, and sales director at GE Healthcare. He has 'a proven track record of leading successful turnarounds of businesses," according to his LinkedIn profile. Medikabazaar reported a gross operating revenue of ₹1,355.5 crore in FY24, a 50% surge from the preceding year, according to Entrackr. Its loss widened by 30% to ₹394.8 crore. The company's expansion is driven by adding new growth segments and an internal clean-up with a focus on transparency. 'If you ask me one word in this organisation which I've tried to change, it is to 'empower' the people to take decisions, but then be accountable," he said. The company has had a good retention of its leadership, employees and customers over the past 18 months, Lodha said. 'That itself gives you confidence that things are pretty much solid in place," Lodha said. 'We have added many new segments, new leaders. But we retain the core," he added. Exports to drive growth Lodha is driving the company's expansion beyond Indian shores. The company is already facilitating Indian manufacturers with certification to export to countries in the Middle East, Africa, some parts of Asia, and South America. 'It is in the early stages… but it is a huge, significant growth area for us as we go forward. At this point of time, export [segment] is not that significant. We are talking 5-6% of our business. But that will significantly grow to 15-20% as we go forward," Lodha said. Also Read | The fallout of an audit and missed targets: Medikabazaar founders set to lose stock options Medikabazaar is a B2B seller for medical equipment and drugs, including consumables such as surgical gloves, devices like MRI machines, and vaccines. It has over 400,000 customers through its digital marketplace and has tied up with over 1,000 hospitals in the country. The company has also started its own brand called MB+ for medical consumables, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines that it will directly offer to customers, which is a high-margin business and will form a significant chunk of the company's revenue, said Lodha. It is targeting tier-2 and tier-3 hospitals and aims to offer complete supply chain and procurement solutions to at least 100-150 hospitals in the next 12-14 months. 'In India, nobody has the portfolio breadth that we have with presence in equipment and devices, consumables, disposables, IVD (in vitro diagnostics) and pharma," said Lodha. 'We offer a one-stop solution in all procurement segments… that's a very big opportunity for hospitals to really work with one company as a single-window procurement partner rather than working with, say, 200 distributors." Medikabazaar competes with large manufacturers in individual segments such as medical equipment companies Wipro GE Healthcare and Medtronic, as well as other B2B marketplaces MedDeal and Zoplar. Also Read | Indian medtech's just coming of age, and already has global ambitions Medikabazaar has raised $165 million (about ₹1,380 crore) via debt and equity to date. It was reportedly in talks to raise $150-200 million last year, which did not materialise after the forensic audit. Lodha said that the company is not looking at raising funds currently and that it built a good cash flow in Q4. 'We are continuing to be focused on cash flow," he said. 'Wherever the investment is required, I think the existing investors [are] very bullish on the business… they are ready to fund it further."
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Delhi Police register FIR against Medikabazaar's co-founder Vivek Tiwari
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Medikabazaar 's co-founder, Vivek Tiwari , charging him with criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and falsification of EOW action follows Tiwari's recent removal from Medikabazaar's board amid allegations of financial misreporting. In a regulatory filing, Boston Ivy Healthcare Solutions—the parent company of Medikabazaar—accused Tiwari and 13 others of engaging in "malicious and fraudulent activities" that allegedly inflicted "irreparable harm" on the to a person familiar with the matter, Tiwari failed to appear before the EOW despite being summoned twice.'Tiwari is believed to have gone out of the country. His lawyers have sought anticipatory bail, but no relief has been granted yet despite assurances that he would return by April 16,' the person FIR alleges a "well-planned and deep-rooted criminal conspiracy" by Tiwari and others to siphon off more than Rs 100 crore through cheating, falsification of records, and breach of contract. Tiwari has been described as the 'kingpin' behind the an email response to ET's queries on the subject, Tiwari said the so-called dispute was a meticulously orchestrated plot by certain individuals with vested interests. They have made baseless and uncorroborated allegations to malign his reputation, he said in the e-mail.'While settlement discussions were underway on April 1, they activated their complaint before the EOW, fully aware that I was scheduled to travel to China from April 7. But an FIR was lodged against me on April 11. This FIR has been filed solely as an attempt to extract a favourable settlement from me and nothing more,' Tiwari added in the investigations conducted by Uniqus India, Alvarez & Marsal, and Rashmikant & Partners found that Tiwari had allegedly committed gross negligence, breached his fiduciary duties, and engaged in misappropriation and financial to the FIR, Tiwari and others fraudulently inflated Medikabazaar's turnover for FY22 and FY23 by recording fake entries in accounting systems Tally and Prota, with no real underlying transactions. The company also ended up paying excess GST in FY23, leading to a recorded loss of Rs 27.99 crore."Fake sales were booked to artificially inflate revenues and mislead shareholders into paying higher share prices," the FIR states.
Mint
25-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
Medikabazaar's ousted CEO denies board's allegations of financial irregularities
Medikabazaar's ousted founder and chief executive officer Vivek Tiwari, who is fighting cases in multiple jurisdictions, including the Delhi High Court and the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai, has denied allegations of financial misreporting, including inflation of revenues as well as related party transactions with Ignexto Biotex, which is owned by his family member, in an interview with Mint . Tiwari declined to say if the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had been in contact with him as the matter was sub judice. Last week, the medical tech company's Series C investors filed an indemnity claim, seeking ₹ 279 crore compensation from the company for alleged financial misreporting. The board also ousted Tiwari, stating "termination for cause" over allegations of fraudulent and malicious activities, according to a financial statement filed with the Registrar of Companies. 'Mr. Vivek Tiwari is involved in malicious and fraudulent activities, including those of financial mismanagement and financial fraud, which have caused irreparable harm and damage, and are alarming to the well-being of the company," the statement read. The company's FY23 financial statements highlighted gaps in disclosures, including details of property, plant and equipment as well as physical verification of inventory during the year. The company also restated its FY23 financials, including reclassification of inventory, cash and bank balances, debt including current and non-current borrowings, as well as revenue from operations. Also read: Medikabazaar investors seek damages over financial misreporting allegations A spokesperson for Boston Ivy Healthcare Solutions Private Limited, the parent company of Medikabazar, said due process had been followed in all matters through independent third party agencies, external counsel, board committees and shareholder forums. 'In addition, all the necessary steps are taken in accordance with internal compliance, company law and shareholder procedures," the spokesperson added. Creagis and Healthquad-backed Medikabazaar joins a growing list of Indian startups that have faced governance issues. Companies such as Trell, BharatPe, Byju's, and GoMechanic have also faced audits from jittery investors over the past two years. Medikabazaar company has raised a total of $165 million (about ₹ 1,380 crore) via debt and equity. It was reportedly in talks to raise another $150-200 million earlier this year, but that did not materialise after the forensic audit was conducted. Here are some edited excerpts from the interview. See, the manner in which this entire thing came up and since I took the matter to courts, I didn't want to really get into any kind of media-facing situation. I just wanted to make sure that I was given enough opportunity for myself to be presented in the environment when I felt the time was right. And also because I wanted to honour the court proceedings. I was just thinking that I should maintain a certain amount of dignity and silence rather than talking too much about what has gone wrong or what has gone right. I think that's the reason why I was not too much about, you know, speaking about the process myself and all of it. So I think that's the reason precisely. Well certain things happened, which I didn't expect as a founder. Firstly, the way this entire issue came up from the whistleblower letter—the time and manner in which the investigation was done, not including me in major decision-making processes, sidelining me or trying to create situations for me where I would do something in good faith but people would not really honour me or not even get back to me on asking for findings and an investigation reports and all of it. So I think the manner in which it has played out, it's not gone really well. As a founder, I felt as if, you know, I did not have enough chances to speak or be heard. And that's the reason why I felt it's the time that I should speak up now. If people are not willing to listen to my side of the story, then it's very difficult for me to put that narrative in place. Nothing has been made directly to me as of now or nothing has been presented to me for me to present my case or my side of justification on the findings. You know, that's been precisely the reason why all audits and all forensic audits were taking place. But I felt as if I'm being targeted. I categorically deny any intentional misrepresentation of the company's financials. See, in my time of managing the company as founder and CEO, everything looked great. The business was great. The business had grown from a pre-covid to post-covid situation where the growth was phenomenal. And during such times of growth, I raised large rounds of investments. I got investors to the board. Also read: GoMechanic acquired by consortium led by Lifelong Group Before that, there was a board that was managing and overseeing operations with various committees and subcommittees. And then suddenly all hell broke loose. When you have a whistleblower and an anonymous whistleblower letter, you don't give a chance for the founder to speak up. The founder in his all trust and fairness and transparency gives up everything for you to take up that effort of doing all the investigation. And then he's not even presented with the findings. I think that's where I didn't feel as if it was justice was being done to me. I should not have been targeted. Or maybe to the process, everybody who was involved in that whistleblower letter should have been fairly investigated or fairly given a proper kind of treatment as if it was the same treatment for everyone. There was no related party transaction as per the Companies Act. Number one, the size of the Ignexto business compared to the total Medikabazaar business would not be even 2-3%. Number two, Ignexto was a company which was selling medicines to essentially end consumers and pharmacies and all of that. They maintained a chain of pharmacy stores. So it was a non-conflicting business with Medikabazaar. It may have a buying relationship, but all buyings and sellings were done at an arm's length. Number three, it did not have any direct affiliation with me or as my ownership in the company or my wife's ownership in the company. The company was owned by my in-laws, but they have been in the pharmacy business for the past 40 years. So it was in all fairness and justice, it was all discussed with many of the investors in the past. It was not an unknown story that my family, my in-law's family were in the pharmacy business. I was terminated as CEO in August 2024. Before even putting some proper finding and investigation report on record, what was the reason for me to be terminated? Why was I terminated in August 2024 when some reports were actually placed in January 2025? What was the tearing hurry for the board to terminate me five months before the reports would have been tabled in any form or manner, and where I was not presented with the case? On 14 August, an e-mail came from a board member putting me on mandatory leave without any reason. I had recused myself from all those audits and processes so I was not getting into the way of the investigation process. All of this was led by a few of those management members and the board members. Also read | Blow to Byju's: NCLAT grants creditors final say on ₹ 158 crore settlement So, I was certainly put on some kind of leave where I did not agree to the terms. The problem was that I had given some concessions on a good faith basis. Now I started questioning the board about certain conducts and things which were not really presented to me in a transparent way – putting myself in the media last July, trying to portray me as stepping down because of PwC audit. In fact, there was no audit done by PwC. It was never involved in any forensic investigation. It was done by parties with whom I had no idea and no credentials about. In the whistleblower letter, there were no direct allegations against me. Most of the allegations were around financials, revenue or certain things which were related to revenue, leads and all of that. There was nothing directly accusing me of misconduct or doing something against the interest of the company. There were 18 people named in that whistleblower letter and I was one of them along with my co-founder. But there were 16 other people and some of them were part of the CXO team also. See, the legal cases right now are all about wrongful termination. I also have an NCLT proceeding going on for removing me as a director of the board which is with NCLT Mumbai. That's the reason why I was telling you that when the first notice came, I was given a chance to represent myself. I had given a 30-40 page representation with certain facts. It was on 10 February. I had given my representation and I clearly expressed my ability to get few set of documents before this decision or EGM could have happened. I was not given a chance or fairly represented by the company on the set of documents I asked for. And suddenly, one fine day, calling an EGM and removing me from the affairs of the company or from the board was unexpected. So, I went to NCLT at the end of February and Delhi High Court in August last year. Well, see, in the context of the situation and the environment today, I feel as if I was not given a chance to present my case, not given a chance to be heard. So, you know, I would not like to speak much on this subject, but I'm just trying to protect myself. I will take a neutral stand here. But you know, these matters are in court. Yes, I'm not in India. I had gone for a business trip for a very large medical equipment fair outside India. And from there, I came to Dubai for some business meetings and all, because obviously, being a founder and also running the business for a very long time, I had my own connections and I had my own business priorities to be met. So, I think it was more of a business trip which happened, which started with a point. And normally I travel quite a lot, quite frequently. I used to travel 15 days a month, even while running Medikabazaar. And it was more to do with business travel and all. Because I had set up my Dubai office, I'd set up a China office, all of those offices I'd set up, and I had fairly good contact all over these countries. Yes, certainly.
