Sumit Vishwakarma26 Sep 2026
17:25IST
New Update
Rio Health, a quick commerce platform for medicines and healthcare essentials, has raised $4.5 million (Rs 43.08 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Version One Ventures.
Existing investors Xeed Ventures, Good Capital and Amplify also participated in the fully closed, all-equity round.
The startup said the latest funding will support the expansion of its dark-store network and improvements to the technology used across ordering, inventory management and delivery operations.
It is targeting an annual run rate of more than Rs 150 crore over the next nine to 12 months.
Before the latest investment, Rio Health had raised Rs 19.16 crore across earlier funding rounds. The new round takes its total funding to Rs 62.24 crore.
More dark stores across Delhi-NCR
Rio Health claims currently processes more than 30,000 orders a month, with an average order value ranging between Rs 600 and Rs 700.
Ankur Agrawal, founder of Rio Health, said the startup was trying to address what it sees as a trade-off between the speed and availability of medicine delivery.
“Yet medicine delivery still forces customers to choose between speed and availability. We are building Rio Health to solve both. This funding will help us strengthen our technology, improve how we predict neighbourhood-level demand, and make reliable medicine delivery available to many more customers across Delhi-NCR,” he said.
How Rio Health delivers medicines
Founded by Ankur Agrawal and Amit Ahuja, Rio Health delivers medicines and healthcare essentials across Delhi-NCR in about 20 to 30 minutes.
Customers can place orders by speaking or typing in Hindi, English or Hinglish. They can also upload a photograph of a prescription.
The startup’s AI-led system identifies the products listed in a prescription and creates an order, which is then checked by a licensed pharmacist.
It offers more than 20,000 stock-keeping units, or SKUs, while medicines that are not routinely stocked can be sourced through its distributor network.
Each of its dark stores serves an area within a radius of about three kilometres. The startup uses neighbourhood-level demand data to forecast which medicines are likely to be required in a particular area and stock inventory accordingly.
Boris Wertz, partner at Version One Ventures, said the pharmacy market required companies to address availability and operational controls alongside delivery speed.
“India’s pharmacy market is well suited to quick commerce, but solving it requires more than fast delivery. It requires a wide assortment, accurate local demand planning and strong operational controls. Rio Health has shown encouraging traction, repeat usage and capital discipline through its first three dark stores,” he said.
Rio Health’s fundraising comes as quick commerce companies such as Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart expand beyond groceries and household essentials into categories including medicines.
Medicine delivery has additional operational requirements. Prescription medicines require appropriate checks, while pharmacy businesses operate under licensing and other rules governing the sale and dispensing of drugs.
FundingHealthcareQuick CommerceInvestment
