A St. Petersburg healthtech startup focusing on pharmacists has closed an oversubscribed Series A.
RxLive, which provides access to pharmacists via its telehealth platform, closed $5 million on Tuesday. It was led by Massachusetts-based SpringTide, a healthtech-focused venture capital firm. Ohio-based Cardinal Health, a publicly traded medical manufacturer, and Atlanta-based Jackson Healthcare also participated.
“It’s emerged to be really surprisingly strategic round,” RxLive co-founder Mark Engelen said in an interview with Tampa Bay Inno. “It puts us at a great place of opportunity; our board is going to be aggressive, and as a result, we run a little hotter than two years [of runway].”
RxLive will use the funds to double in size in the next year; it currently has a dozen employees and a presence in 30 states. Its headquarters is in downtown St. Petersburg and is actively hiring locally.
“We want to grow our footprint here,” Engelen said.
The funding follows a $1.9 million raise in May 2021, after the company saw 10 times the growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has raised $8 million since its inception in 2018. It was named a “Startup to Watch” in 2022 by Tampa By Inno.
“Medication mismanagement is a problem that is widely experienced, acutely felt and poorly addressed by the market today,” Brad Otto, principal at SpringTide, said in a statement. “RxLive addresses this $500 billion opportunity in a completely unique way.”
After Covid-19 brought major awareness — and adoption — of telehealth services, RxLive had to battle the health care system being overwhelmed with staying afloat. As the economy has taken a tumultuous turn, RxLive believes it can once again prove its value.
“The market crisis has made us capital efficient and hyper-focused on what really creates value,” Engelen said. “You don’t survive and thrive in this economy unless you’re bringing value to the table. It’s a testament to the pharmacy-led model, clinical team and impact we’re having on patients.”
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