Healthtech startup Forus has reached a $1 billion valuation by automating the administrative work that often determines whether patients receive the medications their doctors prescribe. According to Forbes, the company has secured $160 million in total funding, including previously unannounced rounds led individually by Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, and Accel. Founded in 2023 under the name Tandem, Forus surpassed $10 million in annualized revenue by year-end and has roughly quintupled so far this year, putting annualized revenue above $50 million.
Founded by former Oscar product leader Sahir Jaggi, Forus bypasses traditional subscription fees for physicians and patients, monetizing instead through commercial partnerships with pharmaceutical manufacturers. The business model targets commercialization bottlenecks for newly approved therapies by integrating insurance processing and pharmacy inventory coordination before initial doctor distribution. Half of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies have signed on as partners, according to Forbes, and the company is working on several major drug launches this year.
The technology addresses last-mile logistical hurdles in a prescription drug market where spending is expected to surpass $1 trillion this year. Nearly one-third of Americans never fill the prescriptions their doctors order, while specialty drugs often require additional insurance approvals, affordability support, and specialty pharmacy processing before patients can receive treatment. Forus’s system begins processing a prescription as soon as a physician writes it, checking details such as prior medications, insurance restrictions, and pharmacy requirements in real time.
“Too few drugs make it to market and too few eligible patients receive treatment,” said Sahir Jaggi, Founder and CEO of Forus. Thrive Capital partner Kareem Zaki noted the scale of the access issue, saying that “despite how common it is, it is prohibitory for patients to get the medications they think they need.”
