PHIL Accelerates Growth with National Expansion and $10M Series A Funding
Crosslink Capital led round, advancing Phil’s disruption of traditional prescription management
Phil Inc., an end-to-end prescription management and delivery service connecting patients with local pharmacies, announced today its national expansion following its recent $10M funding round close led by Crosslink Capital. Other investors include Eniac Ventures, Softtech VC, Forerunner Ventures, SV Angel, Silicon Valley Bank, and Transmedia Capital. Top-rated, independent pharmacies in all major states are now part of Phil’s fast-growing network, which since November 2016 has grown to covering 95 percent of the U.S. population.
Phil’s alternative to traditional pharmaceutical management aims to solve the problem of drug adherence, which drives between $100B and $300B in unnecessary medical costs in the U.S. each year. Phil’s key customer demographic are patients who take prescription medications on a regular basis, approximately one in five Americans take at least three a day. These individuals often contend with the uncertainty of running out of their medications, largely because current pharmacies fail them when it comes to coordinating between doctors and insurance agencies. Phil acts as a concierge service that automates communication between doctors, insurers, pharmacy staff, and patients in order to ensure timely refill and efficient delivery of thousands of prescriptions across the country, directly to the patient’s door at no extra cost.
“We partnered with Phil because of its strong belief in the value local pharmacies bring to public health and the communities we serve,” said Jerry T., owner of a 107-year-old family drugstore, one of Phil’s pharmaceutical partners. “Phil’s online and mobile customer and partner care has helped my business compete with big-box drugstore chains, all of which may not offer the same personalized services we do.”
Phil works with dozens of partners and more than 8,000 doctors nationwide. As Phil’s customer prescription volume has doubled within Q1-Q2 and continues to accelerate, the startup plans to double internal staff by 2018 in order to continue providing top-quality customer service.
“We believe care coordination between doctors, insurance and pharmacies is the biggest hurdle to patients receiving their meds on time, especially so for those who take medications regularly”, said Deepak Thomas, founder and CEO of Phil, who survived a eight-year run-in with chronic Lyme Disease. “With larger chain pharmacies, the consumer experience is often held captive by their business model that requires patients to return to the pharmacy, often multiple times a month. With Phil, we focus on providing a hands-off, concierge experience and rather than building our own pharmacy, we chose to partner with independently-owned pharmacies with strong community roots.”
The mHealth market, which encompasses use of mobile phones and other wireless technologies for consumer medical care and wellness, is estimated to expand at a high growth rate of 36.5 percent over the period of 2016-2024. As the market grows, the need for secure and reliable prescription delivery becomes more vital. Phil was recently certified by the National Association of Board of Pharmacies (NABP), which verifies online pharmacies and pharmacy-related websites globally, ensuring they are safe, legitimate and fully-licensed.
In addition to establishing a recent partnership with Lemonaid Health, a growing telemedicine app, Phil plans to partner with more than 200 independently-owned pharmacies over the next 12 months to improve patient outcomes.
