• Nurx

  Participated · Debt Financing · Aug 2019

  Nurx operates a digital healthcare platform that connects patients, medical providers, and pharmacies in a single “all in one” service for sensitive health needs. The company focuses on areas that can be difficult to access and carry stigma, including contraception, HIV prevention with PrEP, STI testing and treatment, and herpes treatment. Nurx is available to roughly 90% of the U.S. population and provides care to more than 300,000 patients on a monthly basis. Led by CEO Varsha Rao, the company plans to use new capital to drive patient growth and introduce additional sensitive health services, including treatment for headaches and migraines. Nurx also intends to expand its clinical, operations, and engineering teams in the near future. Financially, the company has raised $113m to date, including the latest Series C tranche. Nurx ships birth control (pill, shot, ring, patch) directly to consumers and also provides emergency contraception, STI and HPV testing kits, and PrEP. The company reports about 200,000 current patients and monthly growth rates as high as 20%. Its service is live in 26 states and Washington, D.C., and Nurx says it plans to be accessible to 90% of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Nurx added STI testing kits last month and has performed tests for 1,000 patients. The company raised $32 million in Series C equity and secured $20 million in debt financing (total new capital $52 million) and has raised more than $90 million in debt and equity to date. Nurx plans to use the funding to double its engineering team and to launch additional "sensitive" healthcare services. Nurx launched in 2014 as a California-based telemedicine startup aiming to make access to contraceptives simple through an online app that connects users with physicians, issues prescriptions, and arranges delivery. The company operates in 17 states and has expanded its product set beyond contraceptive pills to include patches, injectables, the NuvaRing and the anti-HIV medication PrEP. Nurx is preparing to launch an at-home lab kit for HIV testing to further broaden its telehealth offerings. With current plans to scale clinical teams, partner pharmacies, and geographic reach, the company is also building out engineering and design teams and onboarding nurses at a new Miami site. CEO and co-founder Hans Gangeskar frames affordable access to birth control as a foundational health-care function and a starting point for changing how patients receive medications. Nurx operates a web app where users submit information, which is sent to a network of doctors who write prescriptions that Nurx readies for home delivery. The core product is on-demand delivery of contraceptives; the company also offers alternatives such as the NuvaRing and the patch. Nurx expanded its services earlier in the year to include delivery of PrEP (an anti-HIV medication) and has a partnership with LabCorp to help patients get test results and streamline delivery of needed HIV drugs. The startup launched in 2014 to address urgent prescription gaps and has been growing at a steady pace according to its founders. The company faces potential demand-side headwinds noted in the article—citing a new study linking the pill to depression—but continues to broaden its prescription offerings. Its model emphasizes convenience and recurring monthly prescriptions as a pathway for expansion into other medications.

No current team members are available.