20 Growing Pharmacy Companies & Startups in 2024
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The global pharmaceutical industry is expected to reach $1.15 trillion in 2024. Data suggests that the annual growth rate will increase into 2028 at 6.19%, resulting in an astounding market volume of $1.47 trillion.
With changing healthcare landscapes and the onset of new technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, there has been a steep rise in the number of pharmacy startups.
We’ve rounded up some of the best pharma startups to keep an eye on in 2024.
1. Fullscript
5-year search growth: 345%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2011
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Funding: $267M (Private Equity)
What they do: Fullscript is a digital platform that provides integrative and functional medicine practitioners with a comprehensive solution for prescribing and dispensing professional-grade supplements and other natural health products. The platform offers a user-friendly interface for managing patient prescriptions, ordering products, and accessing clinical resources.
Fullscript also provides compliance support and product fulfillment services, making it a popular choice for practitioners looking to enhance their patient care and practice efficiency. Today, there are more than 100,000 providers on Fullscript.
2. Capsule
5-year search growth: 78%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $570M (Series D)
What they do: Capsule is a digital pharmacy startup that delivers medications directly to customers' doors. The platform offers a user-friendly app for managing prescriptions, as well as features for transferring existing prescriptions, scheduling refills, and communicating with pharmacists. Capsule also offers competitive pricing, free same-day delivery in select cities, and personalized support to make the pharmacy experience more convenient and customer-friendly.
3. Capital Rx
5-year search growth: 257%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2017
Location: New York, NY
Funding: $253M (Corporate Round)
What they do: Capital Rx is a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) platform that provides a transparent and cost-effective solution for managing prescription drug benefits. The platform offers innovative pricing models and a user-friendly interface for managing formularies, claims processing, and member engagement.
Capital Rx's unique approach to PBM has earned it recognition as a disruptor in the industry, and has helped businesses save money on healthcare costs while improving the quality of care for their members. In June 2024, the startup received a utility patent in the US for its enterprise health platform.
4. MRM Health
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2020
Location: Ghent, Belgium
Funding: $17.3M (Grant)
What they do: MRM Health is a biotech company that focuses on microbiome-based therapeutics. Their proprietary technology aims to combine specific microbial strains into Optimized Consortia. Furthermore, a unique manufacturing and optimization process works toward creating a single drug substance. MRM Health received $14M in 2020 in its collaboration with DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences.
5. Retailio
5-year search growth: 1,114%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: Pune, India
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Retailio is a B2B pharmaceutical platform where pharmacies and chemists place orders and make digital payments. The company has over 300,000 SKUs, which include medicines, surgical products, life-saving drugs, and more. The startup claims to process more than 150,000 transactions per day.
6. PharmEasy
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Mumbai, India
Funding: $1.7B (Undisclosed)
What they do: As a digital health startup, PharmEasy is looking to simplify healthcare in India. Through various partnerships and providers, the startup has created a steady supply chain that allows users to receive medicine, tests, consultations, and healthcare products from vetted pharmacies and clinics.
Their website shows that they have a presence in over 1,000 Indian cities and 80,000+ pharmacy partners. In April 2024, the startup raised $216 million in venture funding, bringing its total funding to over $1.7 billion.
7. Tricog Health
5-year search growth: 254%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2014
Location: Singapore, Singapore
Funding: $23.5M (Series C)
What they do: Tricog Health is a predictive healthcare analytics firm that provides virtual cardiology services to remote clinics. The startup is working toward reducing cardiac deaths using its product, InstaECG. Used by more than 5,000+ active healthcare professionals, InstaECG can identify over 200+ cardiac conditions across several hospitals and clinics. Tricog Health raised $8.5M in a Series B2 funding round in April 2023.
8. Lyndra Therapeutics
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Watertown, MA
Funding: $284.6M (Series E)
What they do: Lyndra Therapeutics is a drug development company that aims to develop longer-lasting oral dosage medicines. The company's LYNX platform technology makes it possible to create oral medications that can maintain their shape after consumption for a sustained release over a week or longer.
The startup recently raised $101 million in Series E funding to finish its Phase III trial for the schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder drug LYN-005.
9. NeilMed
5-year search growth: 69%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2000
Location: Santa Rosa, California
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: NeilMed is a pharmaceutical company that develops all-natural, drug-free nasal care products. Most notably, NeilMed manufactures and supplies LVLP saline nasal irrigation systems to treat sinus symptoms. The company's two flagship products are the NeilMed SINUS RINSE and NeilMed NasaFlo Neti Pot. Currently, they sell over 40 product types for nasal and sinus care.
10. Allermi
5-year search growth: 5,800%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2019
Location: San Francisco, California
Funding: $4.8M (Series A)
What they do: Allermi is a health-tech startup that provides custom allergy prescription medication treatments. All Allermi medications have been formulated by world-class allergists and prescribed based on the results of a free online consultation. If patients don't see results within 48 hours, they can request a prescription change.
The Allermi ingredients can include oxymetazoline (decongestant), azelastine (antihistamine), ipratropium (anticholinergic), and triamcinolone (anti-inflammatory). As of today, the startup has treated more than 50,000 patients.
11. Minoryx Therapeutics
5-year search growth: -25%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2011
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Funding: $134.6M (Series C)
What they do: Minoryx Therapeutics focuses on drug discovery and development for severe central nervous system diseases. The startup is currently focusing on its novel treatment, Leriglitazone, a selective PPAR gamma agonist. The clinical-stage treatment is expected to work against several orphan CNS disorders. To date, the company has raised over $134 million in funding.
12. Axial Therapeutics
5-year search growth: 1,988%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: Woburn, MA
Funding: $110.9M (Series C)
What they do: As a biotech startup, Axial Therapeutics utilizes the microbiome to develop drugs for neurological disorders and diseases. Their work focuses on the development of small-molecule drugs that target gut microbiology and help impact the pathology, symptoms, and progression of various neurological disorders. Recently, Axial Therapeutics raised $37.25M in Series C funding.
13. ROME Therapeutics
5-year search growth: 2,900%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2020
Location: Cambridge, MA
Funding: $199M (Series B)
What they do: Rome Therapeutics aims to develop treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases by exploring the repeatome. The company’s belief is that 60% of the human genome that has repetitive sequences of nucleic acid can be targeted through specialized medicine. Rome Therapeutics raised $77M in Series B funding by Section 32 in September 2021.
14. Fastest Labs
5-year search growth: 332%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2008
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Fastest Labs is a drug testing company that offers drug, alcohol, and DNA testing services. The startup handles all types of testing, including paternity, ancestry, urine, hair, saliva, and fingernail tests. The company also employs the franchise model, allowing investors to open a branch for as low as $125,500.
15. DocStation
5-year search growth: 325%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: Austin, Texas
Funding: $3.4M (Seed)
What they do: DocStation is a software platform that connects pharmacies and health plans all in one place. Pharmacies and clinical practices use DocStation to store patient health records, submit medical claims electronically, schedule appointments, and automatically bill for services. Today, DocStation serves over 1 million patients and provides support for 1,000+ retail pharmacy locations.
16. MAYD Group
5-year search growth: 135%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2021
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Funding: $59.2M (Series A)
What they do: As a medication management solution provider, MAYD helps users quickly find information on healthcare products. The startup partners with small-scale pharmacies to manage localized deliveries. MAYD received $30M in Series A funding from 468 Capital and others.
17. Venus Remedies
5-year search growth: 77%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 1989
Location: Panchkula, India
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Venus Remedies is one of the largest manufacturers of meropenem antibiotics in India. The startup is responsible for the research and development of various products, including antibiotics, antihistamines, oncology drugs, and anti-infectives. Most recently, in October 2023, Venus was granted marketing approval for six chemotherapy drugs. This moves their total to 525 oncology product approvals across 76 countries.
18. Truepill
5-year search growth: 242%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: Hayward, CA
Funding: $255.4M (Series D)
What they do: Truepill is a digital health platform that provides end-to-end solutions for the development, delivery, and management of direct-to-patient healthcare products and services. The platform offers a variety of services, including telehealth, pharmacy fulfillment, and custom packaging and labeling, among others. Truepill's scalable and customizable solutions make it a popular choice for healthcare providers, payers, and other businesses looking to expand their digital health offerings and improve patient access to care.
19. Alto Pharmacy
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2015
Location: San Francisco, California
Funding: $680M (Series F)
What they do: Alto Pharmacy is a digital healthcare company that provides a modern and personalized pharmacy experience. The platform offers a variety of services, including free delivery, medication management, and 24/7 support from licensed pharmacists. Alto Pharmacy's user-friendly app and online platform make it easy to manage prescriptions and access quality care from the comfort of one's own home.
20. Yodawy
5-year search growth: 285%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2018
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Funding: $40.5M (Private Equity)
What they do: Yodawy is an online healthcare platform where customers can find OTC and prescription medications. Currently, the startup has a network of over 3,000 partner pharmacies in Egypt. Other key Yodawy features include an e-prescription processing system, a chronic care program that helps 50,000 monthly recurring chronic patients, and an automated insurance approval platform.
Conclusion
That concludes our list of the top pharmacy startups transforming healthcare right now.
The introduction of AI-powered diagnostics, clinical trials, and drug development systems has brought a new wave of biopharma advancements.
It’s safe to say that many new pharma startups will launch as the demand for new drugs, vaccines, and therapies continues to rise.
