MediSafe Secures $14.5M Series B Funding to Expand into Europe and Enhance Medication Adherence Platform

VCBeat has learned that MediSafe, an Israeli startup focused on medication adherence, recently closed a $14.5 million Series B financing round. The round was led by UK-based venture capital firm Octopus Ventures and M Ventures (the corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA), with existing investors Pitango Venture Capital, 7wire Ventures, lool Ventures, TriVentures, and Qualcomm Ventures continuing to participate. The funds will primarily be used to expand into Europe, including establishing a London office, as well as to increase headcount in sales, marketing, and product engineering.

Approximately 125,000 people die annually in the United States due to poor medication adherence, a critical market pain point that Medisafe has strategically targeted. By offering a “virtual pillbox,” Medisafe reminds users when and how much of their prescribed medications to take, while providing personalized education and guidance. As the highest-rated medication reminder app on Google Play, it also curates prescription discount coupons, delivers real-time updates, and offers tailored recommendations to users.

In short, MediSaf helps create personalized interventions to address medication non-adherence caused by various factors, such as forgetfulness, emotional distress, information overload, low engagement, and rising medication costs. Through its platform, the company facilitates close coordination, interaction, and closed-loop communication among patients, caregivers or “MedFriends,” physicians, and other providers.

Medisafe’s core product is a cloud-based app available for Android and iOS. It reminds patients to take their medications at the correct time and in the appropriate dosage, and also allows tracking of medication adherence by others. If medication intake deviates from the prescribed regimen, the app sends alerts to the patient’s friends and family members, such as prompting them to call the patient. MediSafe also supports quick addition of medication names by scanning drug barcodes using the device camera. Currently, the app has incorporated additional features, including connectivity with smart pillboxes and smart pill caps.

At this year’s HIMSS Conference, Medisafe announced collaborations with Epic and Cerner on drug interaction management and simultaneously launched a new feature that alerts users to potential adverse reactions, side effects, or alterations in drug efficacy due to drug interactions. This feature also provides patients with medication-related precautions, such as avoiding spicy foods and alcohol. However, the feature is currently available only to iOS users.

MediSafe byFounded in 2012 by brothers Rotem and Omri,Their startup idea was conceived after their father, who has diabetes, accidentally took double the usual dose of his daily medication. “Building on a mature and refined product, we are expanding into Europe, where we see significant demand in the pharmaceutical sector. Now is the right time to scale our business,” said Jon Michaeli, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development.

To date, Medisafe has recorded over 500 million successful medication doses on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, garnered 140,000 user reviews, and maintained an average rating of 4.5 stars on the App Store and Google Play.

Although the Medisafe app is designed for patients, its revenue primarily comes from pharmaceutical manufacturers, insurance payers, and suppliers. The MediSafe platform now includes synchronization with brand solutions from pharmaceutical companies, HMOs, pharmacies, and electronic medical/health record (EMR/EHR) companies via web and SMS. MediSafe also aggregates anonymized patient behavior data from pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, serving as a bridge between patients and healthcare providers to help improve health outcomes while benefiting all stakeholders across the entire healthcare ecosystem.

Regarding this financing round, Omri Shor, CEO and Co-founder of Medisafe, stated: “We welcome Octopus Ventures and M Ventures, who believe in and support our mission to improve people’s health while delivering measurable outcomes for our partners, including pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and healthcare providers. We will use the new capital to recruit top talent, enhance our platform’s capabilities, and achieve our ambitious global expansion goals.”

“We partner with pharmaceutical companies and generate direct revenue,” said Michaeli. “Consumers have an excellent experience with Medisafe, and patient medication adherence is steadily increasing. This directly drives sales while providing pharmaceutical companies with a competitive differentiation advantage. We also collaborate with insurance payers, delivering big data insights that enable them to offer targeted benefits to at-risk patients with specific characteristics, such as free transportation to hospitals or pharmacies, or free home delivery of medications. Clearly, Medisafe can provide valuable solutions for patients.”

Michaeli did not disclose the specific pharmaceutical partners but stated that there is interest in collaboration from both the top ten pharmaceutical companies and smaller biopharma firms. With success in the commercial market, the company can focus on growth and business expansion. In addition to expanding in Europe, several funds will enable the hiring of more engineers at its R&D laboratory in Israel, accelerating product development and introducing new features.

Michaeli stated, “We are building a comprehensive and robust solution for consumers. From a product perspective, the addition of new features enables consumers to use the product in a more intuitive and convenient manner.”