PulseTech, Bangladesh’s fastest-growing B2B healthtech platform, has raised US$3 million in a Pre-Series A round co-led by Iterative and AVV. This is AVV’s first investment in Bangladesh.
PulseTech is tackling the country’s counterfeit medicine crisis by securing and streamlining the pharma supply chain for retail pharmacies through their ‘Medbox’ platform. The company has grown over 15x in the past 12 months and now serves 12,000+ pharmacies while reaching 3.5 million people in Dhaka.
PulseTech will deploy the new capital to accelerate expansion through the launch of their “One Pharmacy” franchise model to bring non-compliant, small-scale pharmacies into a unified, compliant framework. PulseTech also plans to expand into the South and Southeast Asian markets to address similar counterfeit pharmaceutical challenges and enable cross-border product distribution.
Eddie Thai, co-founder of AVV, the leading early-stage VC firm based in Vietnam that has backed several unicorns over the last decade, commented: “I first visited Bangladesh 15 years ago, and even then, I felt an energy reminiscent of Vietnam — the same energy that has propelled Vietnam into one of the world’s most dynamic emerging economies. At AVV, we’ve been eager to find and back teams who can help transform Bangladesh. The PulseTech team has delivered extraordinary growth, made even more impressive given the country’s ongoing political transition. I’m thrilled to support their journey and excited to see where they head next.”
Hsu Ken, co-founder and managing partner at Iterative, quote: “We first invested in PulseTech in February 2025. During their 3 months Iterative program, PulseTech grew from US$1 million to US$13 million revenue – the fastest velocity in their batch by far. The market pull is there because PulseTech is solving a fundamental need: distributing medicines to local pharmacies efficiently via the Medbox platform, versus pharmaceutical company sales staff visiting each store one by one. Even more importantly, Kazi and Arefeen are cofounders who are like family to each other, complementing each other with deep pharmaceutical domain experience and high-velocity tech execution.”
In Bangladesh, medicine distribution is largely manual and poorly regulated. Brands are not managed through a unified supply chain, creating inefficiencies in procurement and stock management. Additionally, pharmacies often turn to wholesale markets for lower prices, increasing the risk of counterfeit medicine entering the supply chain while posing serious health risks.
Recognizing these critical problems, Kazi Ashikur Rasul and Arefeen Raafi Ahmed founded PulseTech in 2021. Their mission was clear: ensure that pharmacies can access authentic medicine directly from verified manufacturers.
Arefeen Raafi Ahmed, Managing Director of PulseTech, said: “At least 1 in every 10 pharmaceutical products that reach patients in Bangladesh is counterfeit – a risk that is simply unacceptable. As pharmacies are the primary source of medicine for consumers, we founded PulseTech to ensure pharmacies get products from verified sources. Our mission is to ensure that patients never worry about the authenticity of the medicine they take.”
PulseTech directly sources pharmaceuticals from manufacturers and makes last-mile deliveries to pharmacies according to their orders. These orders are placed through ‘Medbox’ a data-driven eCommerce application. PulseTech is streamlining an otherwise fragmented and high-risk supply chain while laying the foundation for a trusted, scalable, technology-driven pharmaceutical network.
Beyond distribution, PulseTech also helps pharmacies to digitalize their workflow by providing online tools for inventory management, order management, and daily operations. With inventory data on hand, PulseTech facilitates inventory credit to link retail pharmacies with financial institutions, driving financial inclusion.
Kazi Ashikur Rasul, CEO of PulseTech, said: “Our goal goes beyond improving individual pharmacies. We want to reshape how healthcare reaches communities across Bangladesh. By combining technology with financial support, we aim to set a new standard for the entire pharma supply chain and ensure reliable access to medicine nationwide and beyond.”
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