Canada’s PocketPills Raises $30 Million To Bring Same-Day Delivery Nationwide

Canadian online pharmacy PocketPills announced Wednesday (March 3) that it has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round to expand the company’s product and bring its same-day delivery to a nationwide scale.

PocketPills is opening new facilities in Quebec and Alberta as part of its national expansion goal, the press release added. It already has warehouses in Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Manitoba.

The company, with its “vision of making medication management simple,” will also further develop its pharmacy automation technology, according to the press release.

The company, which was founded in 2018, is “dedicated to making pharmacy accessible, easy and affordable for all,” through a “seamless digital experience,” said Raj Gulia, co-founder and CEO of PocketPills, in the release.

The round was led by TELUS Ventures, a corporate venture capital fund in Canada, and also included existing investor WaterBridge Ventures. The TELUS Health team will help PocketPills scale its products and develop new offerings.

“There is a clear market need,” said Rich Osborn, managing partner of TELUS Ventures, in the press release. “Our investment in digital pharmacy aligns with our mission to digitally transform Canada’s healthcare ecosystem through the power of technology and connect the virtual continuum of care to improve access, experiences and outcomes for all Canadians.”

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) prescriptions have surged amid the pandemic, as consumers have stayed at home and relied more and more upon delivery and contactless experiences. Over 300,000 Canadians are on the PocketPills platform which has seen its growth multiply by five times in 2020.

Even before the pandemic, the process — involving a doctor’s visit and multiple stops at the pharmacy to drop off the prescription and pick up the filled medication — was ineffective on all sides, NowRx co-founder and CEO Cary Breese told PYMNTS in a recent conversation.

“I think a lot of the pharmacy industry’s going to move away from independence into a health system-based, fully integrated model that’s been built specifically around a remote telehealth environment,” he said.