A Bangladeshi startup, called Arogga, has raised $5.5m in seed funding that will be used to develop its digital pharmacy platform, designed to make it easier for patients to access affordable, authentic medicines.

The cash injection adds to $1.5 million raised last year, with the round led by US investment group The Venture Collective (TVC) with buy-in from other new backers including The Blue Collective, Iterative and Stella Maris Partners, as well as returning investors Ratios Ventures, Sketchnote Partners and Epic Angels and local VCs IDLC Finance and Startup Bangladesh.

Dhaka-based Arogga has developed an app-driven platform through which users can order medicines, sourced directly from manufacturers,  and have them delivered to their homes, as well as track orders and store medical records. It also offers online consultations, diagnostic testing and insurance services.

The new funding will go towards regional expansion, scaling up its operations and reach a larger audience in Bangladesh from its current user base of around half a million people.

Founded in 2020 by Rosina Mazumder (CEO), Fahad Hossein (COO), Shamim Hasan (CTO) and Yawar Mehboob (CFO), Arogga’s mission is to “address the issue of counterfeit medicine and make genuine and affordable medicine more accessible to the people of Bangladesh.”

The company says some estimates suggest that 30 per cent of medicines in the country’s supply chain at any time could be fake.

Commenting on the investment, Cat Middleton, partner at TVC said: “We were excited to lead this round of funding, in what is our first investment in Bangladesh. “

She added that “Bangladesh is on track to become a trillion dollar economy by 2040 making now the opportune time for a company like Arogga to build upon its early success of delivering 11m medications to becoming the go-to, comprehensive healthcare platform in the country.”