Bostinno
Digital pharmacy startup Capsule launches in Boston
By: Srividya Kalyanaraman
New York-based Capsule, a digital pharmacy startup that delivers medications to patients’ doorsteps, is launching in the greater Boston area.
Capsule promises same-day delivery to Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Newton, Waltham, Quincy, Wellesley and Norwood. The company claims to be the only end-to-end mobile-first pharmacy.
Users can either download the app to order medications or have their doctors directly send prescriptions to Capsule for delivery. The startup collects co-pays and gets reimbursed by most insurance companies.
The four-year-old startup will also open a physical pharmacy at 414 Boylston St., with an initial team of a dozen employees. The company plans to use the facility for its pharmacists to manage inventory and assemble orders for delivery.
Founded and led by Eric Kinariwala, a former analyst at Bain Capital, Capsule closed a funding round of over $270 million from marquee investors including Thrive Capital, TCV, Glade Brook, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, and M13.
At the time, the company planned national expansion over the next 18 to 36 months, and the startup is on track with those plans. Last week, it launched in Chicago and Minneapolis.
“We have accelerated our expansion plans, actually,” said Kinariwala. “We wanted to look at other markets that are hardest hit by Covid-19, and that was our reason to launch in Boston and Chicago.”
