Healthtech, Memed, raises US$4.5 million with DNA Capital and Redpoint eventures

Contxto – Handwritten, illegible doctor’s prescriptions? No, no, no. One Brazilian healthtech, by the name of Memed wants to change that.

And to help it in its mission to provide more secure medical prescriptions, the startup from São Paulo recently raised R$20 million (US$4.5 million) in a Series B round. Lead investors were DNA Capital and returning is Redpoint eventures, who’d previously contributed to the healthtech.

Through the capital injection, the eight-year old startup will look to monetization as well as continue expanding. With this recent round, Memed has raised over R$30 million (US$6.8 million) since its founding.

Memed the prescription platform

Doctors are known to have sloppy handwriting. But can you blame ‘em? You try carrying their workloads, crazy schedules, and remembering all those medical terms.

So as a way to help them in patient care, Memed offers a platform to host doctors’ digital prescriptions. It also serves as an accessible gateway for users to view this invaluable instruction as well as pharmacies to get the exact instructions on what drugs to provide.

No longer will pharmacists and patients have to scratch their heads and ask themselves “what’s that say?” Digital prescriptions help assure accuracy as well as avoid tampering with the instructions.

Likewise, Memed pushes patients to stick to the prescription by displaying the pharmacies where they’ll find the necessary drugs at a discount.

One shouldn’t put a price tag on healthcare, but if you can save a little money, it’s more than welcome.

All this is available at a few taps to their smartphone screen.

Naturally the platform hosts multiple perks for doctors too.

For one it helps streamline the prescription process by keeping a registry of doses by integrating itself with the patient’s medical record. The platform also notifies the doctor of any updates and protocols with the drug.

Plus, with so many medical branches, the platform organizes displayed information according to a doctor’s specialty.

The search for profitability

Interestingly, Memed aims to break even in 2020, because as its current model stands the use of its platform comes at no cost to hospitals, pharmacies, and doctors.

“Certainly, this income will not come from doctors or patients, but from pharmacies, for example,” said Ricardo Moraes, the healthtech’s Co-founder.

According to the healthtech’s website, it has over 60,000 registered drugs on its system. Meanwhile, it hosts 80,000 registered doctors and 80 partnering institutions.

Operating at a loss, it appears the startup’s strategy was to first build its network and ecosystem of healthcare players among hospitals, to pharmacies, and doctors. From this grid, it will seek out ways to monetize.

And they must be pretty convincing so as to have DNA Capital and Redpoint eventures on board.

Related articles: Tech and startups from Brazil!

-ML