Paris-based Faks bags €5M to streamline interactions between pharmacists and suppliers

Paris-based Faks, a mobile application that helps digitise interactions between pharmacies and their suppliers, announced on Wednesday that it has raised €5M in a fresh round of funding.

The investment came from Connect Ventures, Seedcamp and Cocoa Ventures to help Faks further strengthen its position in France and expand throughout Europe.

Sitar Teli, Partner of Connect Ventures, says, “Faks is a great example of taking a product-led approach to transform how an industry operates. They’ve combined a compelling workflow product with powerful network effects to build an impressive leading position in the market, with 60 per cent of French pharmacies already onboarded and more joining every day.”

The challenge

According to Faks, the pharmaceutical industry remains one of the least digitised sectors, despite the COVID-19 epidemic having expedited the digital transformation of hospitals and pharmacies.

On average, pharmacies have 100 suppliers (labs) and each of them has its own procedures and organisational structure. For instance, pharmacists spend a lot of time on paperwork when dealing with point-of-sale promotions, the return of expired goods, or other claims without knowing if their supplier would properly fulfil their request.

As a result, inconsistent processes cause suppliers and pharmacies to waste 30 per cent of their time on low-value tasks and produce errors that reduce rentability by 5 per cent. Their relationship suffers from a lack of transparency.

This is where Faks looks to make a difference.

What does Faks offer?

Founded in 2020 by Corentin Geoffray, Clément Goupy and Félix Pignard, Faks is a digital platform that enables pharmacies and their suppliers to work better together by streamlining their relationships.

The company’s platform helps pharmacies handle all of their post-sale activities for all of their suppliers in one location, such as managing promotions, claims, or expired items. 

As a result, pharmacists can devote more time to serving their customers and can more simply federate their network of affiliated pharmacies. At the same time, Faks helps suppliers’ sales and support teams operate more efficiently.

Capital utilisation

The Paris-based company aims to strengthen its position and expand into new European markets. Currently, Faks claims to be the leader in the French market.

Its network includes 12,000 partner pharmacies (60 per cent of the French pharmacy network), 118 pharmacy associations, and over 700 pharmaceutical companies, including industry giants Biogaran, Biocodex, and Bouchara.

The proceeds will also allow the company to strengthen its technical and commercial teams by hiring a dozen new employees.

Co-founders Geoffray and Goupy say, “This funding round is decisive to further consolidate our leadership position in the French market and the starting point for our internationalisation. After having partnered up with 60 per cent of French pharmacies, we are convinced that our solution can profoundly transform the business of pharmacy professionals throughout Europe.”