
Get in the KNOW
on LA Startups & Tech
XNowRx Opens Same-Day Prescription Deliveries to LA Residents
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.

San Fernando Valley residents can now get medications delivered to their door hours after getting a prescription.
California-based pharmacy startup NowRx announced it opened a new fulfillment center in Van Nuys to offer those in the area free, same-day delivery on prescriptions. The service uses robots and AI to fill prescriptions and commercial fulfillment space instead of retail space.
It follows a pandemic-fueled trend of home deliveries. Instacart, after struggling to turn a profit in 2019, did so for the first time during the pandemic. Amazon Pharmacy pushed into the drug-delivery space in November, two years after acquiring PillPack, and pharmacy delivery startup Medly Pharmacy raised $120 million during the pandemic, according to Pitchbook.
But the need for efficiencies in pharmacy came long before the pandemic — robotic pill-packers, home delivery, and e-prescribing have helped pharmacies keep costs down and provide faster service to more people. Most pharmacies often provide prescriptions at razor-thin margins (which is why independent pharmacies struggle and Walgreens counts on purchases of grocery items to offset the cost).
There are some benefits to this on the patient side as well. Most people live within five miles of a pharmacy, but the lack of access to public transportation or time to stand in line means some people delay getting their prescriptions, or forgo it altogether.
"A lot of people in our communities, they end up not getting their prescription in a timely manner," said NowRx CEO Cary Breese. "And that can lead to avoidable hospitalizations and other things."
The tech-enabled company can fill bottles within 30 seconds, and drivers can deliver prescriptions in a matter of two to three hours in some cities, including Los Angeles, Calabasas and Studio City.
NowRx CEO Cary Breese
But the process has some wondering if pharmacists' expertise is getting left behind — and, with it, patient safety — as they're now able to get medications with little or no interaction with medical experts.
"If pharmacy is just delivering a product, then boy, Amazon should take over," joked Steve Chen, associate dean of clinical affairs at the USC school of pharmacy.
But while some may think pharmacies are glorified fulfillment centers, the process of becoming a pharmacist is a long, arduous road that requires an undergraduate degree, and then four more years of graduate study to complete a doctorate in pharmacy.
It's not for nothing. Around 8,000 people die from medication errors every year, and caring for patients who deal with medication-related complications cost the health care system $40 billion annually, according to a February 2021 study in the academic research journal StatPearls. Many of those issues stem from bad handwriting, or unclear communication around how to take those drugs.
"Medication errors may be due to human errors, but it often results from a flawed system with inadequate backup to detect mistakes," researchers wrote.
Breese argues pharmacists at NowRx have more time to consult with patients since they aren't bogged down with the volume of fulfillment work.
"We feel like that, in the old traditional pharmacy model, that they actually are limited in how much time they can spend with patients."
NowRx allows people to contact their pharmacists through an app if they need consultation on drug doses or when to take their medication, and the company will soon be allowing in-app video calls. It's part of their larger venture into telehealth.
As startups like NowRx add digital marketplaces to their slew of services, Chen says innovation in the pharmacy industry should prioritize medication management services, such as identifying drug dosing issues or potential drug addictions.
"At the end of the day you can skip on drugs, you can try to limit the amount or the cost of drugs for the patients you're caring for," Chen said. "But if they're not getting the right medications for their disease states, and they're at risk for heart attacks, strokes, all these negative outcomes from uncontrolled chronic disease, that cost the health system a heck of a lot more money than the medications."
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.
This Week in ‘Raises’: Improvado Hauls $22M, Clearlake Launches $14B Fund
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
This week in “Raises”: A pair of Web3 platforms for gamers landed funding, as did a Manhattan Beach medical startup looking to bolster primary care via nurse practitioners. Meanwhile, a Santa Monica-based investment firm launched its seventh fund with more than $14 billion in dry powder.
Venture Capital
Improvado, a marketing data aggregation platform, raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Updata Partners.
Web3 gaming platform FreshCut raised $15 million in funding led by Galaxy Interactive, Animoca Brands and Republic Crypto.
Medical startup Greater Good Health raised $10 million in a funding round led by LRVHealth.
Joystick, a Web3 platform for gamers and creators, raised $8 million in seed funding.
Open source data protection company CipherMode Labs raised $6.7 million in seed funding led by Innovation Endeavors .
Mobile phone charging network ChargeFUZE raised $5 million in seed funding led by Beverly Pacific, TR Ventures, VA2, Jason Goldberg and Al Weiss.
Polygon, a startup aiming to better diagnose children with learning disabilities, raised $4.2 million in seed and pre-seed funding led by Spark Capital and Pear VC.
Pique, a virtual women's sexual health clinic, raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Maveron.
Psudo, a sneaker startup that utilizes recycled water bottles and 3D sublimation printing to create its shoes, raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by SternAegis Ventures.
Funds
Santa Monica-based investment firm Clearlake Capital Group raised $14.1 billion for its seventh flagship fund.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Kristin Snyder (kristinsnyder@dot.la).Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
LA Tech ‘Moves’: New Head of Originals at Snap, New President at FaZe Clan
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
“Moves”, our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
***
FaZe Clan brought on Zach Katz as the gaming and media company’s new president and chief operating officer. Katz was previously the chief executive officer of the music tech investment fund Raised in Space Enterprises.
TikTok brand factory LINK Agency promoted Dustin Poteet to chief creative officer. Poteet was previously creative director at the firm.
Livestream shopping platform Talkshoplive hired Tradesy co-founder John Hall as its chief technology officer. Universal Music Group Nashville's former vice president of digital marketing, Tony Grotticelli, also joins the company as vice president of marketing.
Anjuli Millan will take over as head of original content at Snap after three years of overseeing production for the division.
Tech and media company Blavity hired Nikki Crump as general manager of agency. Crump joins the company from Burrell Communications Group.
O'Neil Digital Solutions, which provides customer communications and experience management for the health care industry, hired Eric Ramsey as national account sales executive. Ramsey joins from T/O Printing.
Investment firm Cresset Partners named Tammy Funasaki as managing director of business development. Funasaki previously served as head of investor relations for Breakwater Management.
- LA Tech Updates: Artie Closes $10M Seed Round; FaZe Clan Has a ... ›
- FaZe Clan Announces Immersive Pop-Up Shop - dot.LA ›
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
Snapchat’s New Controls Could Let Parents See Their Kids’ Friend Lists
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Snapchat is preparing to roll out enhanced parental controls that would allow parents to see who their teenagers are chatting with on the social media app, according to screenshots of the upcoming feature.
Snap’s parental controls.
Courtesy of Watchful.
Snapchat is planning to introduce Family Center, which would allow parents to see who their children are friends with on the app and who they’ve messaged within the last seven days, according to screenshots provided by Watchful, a product intelligence company. Parents would also be able help their kids report abuse or harassment.
The parental controls are still subject to change before finally launching publicly, as the Family Center screenshots—which were first reported by TechCrunch—reflect features that are still under development.
Santa Monica-based Snap and other social media giants have faced mounting criticism for not doing more to protect their younger users—some of whom have been bullied, sold deadly drugs and sexually exploited on their platforms. State attorneys general have urged Snap and Culver City-based TikTok to strengthen their parental controls, with both companies’ apps especially popular among teens.
A Snap spokesperson declined to comment on Friday. Previously, Snap representatives have told dot.LA that the company is developing tools that will provide parents with more insight into how their children are engaging on Snapchat and allow them to report troubling content.
Yet Snap’s approach to parental controls could still give teens some privacy, as parents wouldn’t be able to read the actual content of their kids’ conversations, according to TechCrunch. (The Family Center screenshots seen by dot.LA do not detail whether parents can see those conversations).
In addition, teenage users would first have to accept an invitation from their parents to join the in-app Family Center before those parents can begin monitoring their social media activity, TechCrunch reported.
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.