PillDrill Secures $3 Million in Angel Funding to Expand Its Elegant Smart Pill Dispenser

PillDrill, the manufacturer of smart pillboxes, recently completed a $3 million angel funding round, with investors undisclosed. The funds will be used to further refine its flagship product of the same name, PillDrill, which will also receive special coverage on the Consumer Technology Association website in the United States.

PillDrill, founded in 2013, launched this smart pill dispenser in April of this year. Its standout feature is the Pill Drill Hub dense scanning system, which includes a central controller and scannable tags that connect to smartphones via Wi-Fi. Users need to attach scannable tags to their medications or place them directly into scannable compartmentalized pill organizers. When it’s time to take medication, the central controller emits an audible reminder. After taking the medicine, users simply shake the pill organizer in front of the controller to scan and record the type and time of medication intake. Daily medication adherence can be viewed on the user’s or their family members’ smartphone apps, with alerts issued if doses are missed.

Smart Pillbox with Scanning Function to Record Medication Adherence and Connect to Mobile App

Another feature is the “Mood Cube,” a small box adorned with various facial expressions. By shaking and scanning it against the PillDrillHub, users can log their emotional changes during medication intake. This feature serves both as an entertainment tool and as a means to help physicians appropriately adjust medication regimens based on patients’ responses to their drugs.

PillDrill differs from conventional approaches to improving “medication adherence”: rather than emphasizing the importance of taking medications on time and at the correct dosage, or requiring users to make significant lifestyle changes, it seeks to integrate seamlessly into patients’ daily routines, using prompts to encourage appropriate medication use and recording each dose taken.

“From the very beginning of designing PillDrill, we never intended to ask people to change their lifestyle habits, because changing habits is truly difficult. Nor did we want patients to feel that taking medication is a major burden or that they are defined as someone who must take pills every day,” said Peter Havas, founder and CEO of PillDrill, in an interview.

Havas also believes that the design of medication reminder apps is unfeasible, as app-based prompts are less intuitive than physical pill organizers and somewhat counterintuitive to human nature. “Logging information in a medication app—such as what medicine to take, the dosage, and the timing—does not directly integrate with the actual process of unscrewing the bottle, taking out the pills, and swallowing them with water,” said Havas. “You may initially feel a sense of satisfaction from friends and family seeing your adherence records on the app, but this novelty is likely to wear off over time, as the practice feels unnatural and burdensome.”

Another approach—shaking the pill bottle in front of PillDrillHub to scan and record medication adherence—was deemed highly convenient and feasible by Havas and the PillDrill team. Another aspect warranting careful consideration is product design: the smart pillbox was designed by a former designer for Amazon Kindle, who ingeniously crafted PillDrill into a discreet, minimalist device rather than one that loudly proclaims, “I am a medication reminder.”

“We need the pillbox to have an aesthetically pleasing design that doesn’t cause embarrassment—it shouldn’t look like a medicine box at first glance,” said Havas. “At the same time, we don’t want people to perceive PillDrill as something optional for their health, so there are many aspects to balance.”

Peter Havas is the founder and CEO of PillDrill. He previously founded SandwichDirect.com, a platform that brought gourmet sandwiches online, which was later acquired by Specialty’s Café & Bakery, where he served as CTO for over a decade. Co-founder and Vice President of Software Cameron Carrett has been Havas’s colleague for 16 years. Having started programming at the age of seven using various languages across different platforms, Carrett is truly a tech expert.

The team also includes a Creative Director, Jacob Guernsey, Vice President of Business Development, and Chris Li, Vice President of Product Design, who previously contributed to the design of the Kindle e-reader.

Last July, PillDrill completed an undisclosed seed funding round, with Brinc, a startup accelerator specializing in electronics companies, as the investor.

PillDrill will use this round of financing to expand its sales channels in the coming months, actively seeking partnerships and leaving no stone unturned—from retailers to pharmaceutical companies. Currently, the company is selling its $199 smart pillbox through its official website.

Coinciding with the announcement of this financing round, PillDrill also revealed that it has won an innovation award at next year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and appointed Annette Campbell-White, retired founder of pharmaceutical venture capital firm MedVenture Associates, to its board of directors.