Out of the pill? Nurx is a web platform delivering birth control in less than a couple of hours, and it just raised $5.3 million in Series A financing from Union Square Ventures.
The startup launched in 2014 to bridge the gap between running out of birth control and waiting to get a new prescription. It added delivery of PrEP, an anti-HIV medication, to its services earlier this year and partnered with LabCorp to help patients get test results and a streamlined delivery process for needed HIV drugs.
Getting the pill is pretty simple. You log onto the web app and input some info. Nurx then sends your info to one of its network of doctors who then write you up a quick prescription and Nurx readies your contraceptives for delivery. A friendly delivery person then brings the pills right to your door. No messing with the pharmacy or waiting in a doctor’s office necessary.
Nurx falls in with other startups working on medical delivery like PillPack or Zipdrug. Another startup, L. Condoms, offers just what the name implies. But Nurx stands out in the contraceptives space.
“We realized there were certain things people wanted done in healthcare rather than research them and birth control is certainly one of those,” co-founder Hans Gangeskar told TechCrunch. “Everyone we spoke with, friends of friends said friends called them with a birth control prescription emergency.”
He also says Nurx has been growing at a steady pace, based on that focus, but it may be facing a recent uphill battle. A new million-woman study uncovered the pill may be the source of depression for many women. But Nurx also offers pill alternatives like Nuva Ring or the patch, should that be your preference.
Whichever option you go for, it’s a good business model and Nurx could easily expand on it to include other prescription medications — it’s already started there with PrEP. After all, people need prescriptions month after month and it’s much more convenient to get them delivered to you than it is to go pick them up somewhere.
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