UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurer in the United States, has acquired digital pharmacy startup DivvyDose. This startup delivers customers their medications in individual packages with the dosage information listed on each packet, and according to CNBC, the deal price was over $300 million.
Last year, UnitedHealthGroup acquired Vivify Health (a remote patient monitoring platform for an undisclosed amount), and PatientsLikeMe, which develops personalized health network for patients.
According to DivvyDose, it accepts all major insurance plans and copays stay around the same as a typical 30-day fill price.
This latest announcement marks another major deal in the digital pharmacy space. DivvyDose’s business model is similar to PillPack, which Amazon acquired for $753 million in 2018. More recently, Walmart scooped up medication management technology from CareZone for an undisclosed amount.
One reason for the buy-ups is to tap into the base of customers that use these services, many of whom are juggling multiple medications. For retailers, like Amazon and Walmart, it’s a way to broaden their footprint in the $300 billion pharmacy market. Health plans like UnitedHealth could benefit by providing additional benefits to a segment of users that rely on getting their medicines delivered in neat, easy-to-use packets, CNBC wrote.
Founded in 2015, DivvyDose hasn’t raised any institutional investment from venture capital or private equity, according to Crunchbase.
Digital Pharmacy Financing Activity
Several digital pharmacies have received funding over the past 12 months. Early this year, Alto, a digital pharmacy and drug delivery company, raised $250 million in a Series D funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision 2 fund, which brought its total funding to $350 million. Capsule raised $200 million in new funding in September of 2019 – only a year after its $50 million Series B round.
Image credit: DivvyDose
