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Company: Mitesh Soma
Founder: Chemist Direct
Based: Birmingham
Founded at the end of 2007, Mitesh Soma’s online pharmacy has grown remarkably quickly, achieving £5m in its first full year and projecting between £10 and £15m for 2009. The already profitable Chemist Direct buys stock in bulk, sells nationally and offers discounted prices on 20,000 products that include everything from toothpaste to anti-malarials. Customers can also call to speak to registered pharmacists who check every order. A fortuitous meeting with former Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, now of VC fund Atomico, led to a £3m investment and the firm’s cut-price offering has helped it secure more than 300,000 regular customers. Named male entrepreneur of the year, Soma has also recently launched an offshoot that will sell office supplies and stationery online.
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