Telehealth startup InstantScripts sold for $135 million two years after winning Smart50 Awards

The winner of the 2021 Smart50 Awards, InstantScripts, is poised to be acquired by retail giant Wesfarmers through its subsidiary, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), in a deal worth approximately $135 million.

The two companies revealed the proposed acquisition on Tuesday morning, with InstantScripts set to become part of the Wesfarmers Health division.

The health care provider was founded in 2017 by Dr Asher Freilich and Maxim Shklyar and has grown to become one of the leaders in the telehealth space in Australia, allowing users to obtain prescriptions for more than 300 medicines online, quickly.

In 2021, InstantScripts was crowned the country’s fastest growing SME as the winner of SmartCompany‘s Smart50 Awards, after achieving a three-year growth rate of 1441.06%.

At the time, InstantScripts employed 15 employees and was turning over $7.5 million.

The startup has previously raised more than $30 million in capital, which included more than $23 million from ASX-listed venture fund Bailador Technology Investments.

On Tuesday, Balidor informed the market it would be exiting its whole position in InstantScripts. Balidor will realise $52 million in cash from the sale, which represents a 25% uplift on the current carrying value of InstantScripts.

In a statement, InstantScripts co-founder Dr Asher Freilich described the deal as a “strong endorsement” of InstantScripts health care services and “the future of digital health care sector more broadly”.

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“InstantScripts has grown rapidly from a start-up operation focused on making quality health care services more accessible and affordable for Australian patients, to a highly-valued clinical business providing over a million health services each year,” he added.

“We are proud of the work our people do, particularly for vulnerable patients in rural and regional communities with poor access to face-to-face primary care, and for those suffering from conditions that make visiting a GP clinic challenging.

In a separate statement, Wesfarmers Health managing director Emily Amos said the proposed acquisition of InstantScripts aligns with Wesfarmers Health’s broad focus on digital health and would add a “substantial” telehealth presence to the company portfolio.