SAN FRANCISCO– Plenful, an AI workflow automation platform streamlining pharmacy and healthcare operations, today announced a $17M Series A round, increasing its total raised capital to more than $25 million. This milestone signifies a meaningful step forward in Plenful’s mission to modernize pharmacy operations through advanced automation and artificial intelligence.
The U.S. healthcare system faces nearly $1 trillion in manual and administrative labor costs, worsened by post-COVID labor shortages and employee burnout. This inflates expenses and hampers service efficiency, ultimately compromising patient care. Moreover, recent significant declines in pharmacist graduation rates have compounded the administrative challenges faced by pharmacy operation teams.
Plenful, founded by experienced pharmacy and healthcare operators, provides a practical solution: a highly-configurable AI software designed to streamline and automate a variety of pharmacy administrative tasks in one platform. Available for health system pharmacies, specialty pharmacies, long term care pharmacies, compounding pharmacies, specialty providers, and more, Plenful reduces manual work by up to 97 percent and can identify millions of dollars in savings opportunities.
“Having years of firsthand experience in the trenches of pharmacy and healthcare operations, we intimately understand the challenges faced by professionals in the field,” said Joy Liu, CEO and Founder of Plenful. “Our mission is to empower pharmacy and healthcare teams with tools that alleviate the burden of manual administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on what matters most – providing exceptional patient care and empowering their staff. Fueled by new capital, we will continue building out our robust infrastructure, focusing on customer needs in each unique automation set, and expanding the use of machine learning with a focus on LLMs to create the best possible, seamless experience for customers.”
Leveraging AI and machine learning, Plenful addresses key pain points in the industry, driving revenue growth and decreasing time and costs for its customers, which include Tampa General Hospital, Renown Health, Salinas Valley Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and dozens of other innovative healthcare teams. Plenful’s platform offers several core use-cases that address critical customer pain points in pharmacy and healthcare operations:
- 340B Auditing, Financial Reporting, and Missed Opportunities Identification: A complete 340B solution designed to handle 100% of compliance volume auditing, financial reporting, and capture missed savings. Plenful’s solution is configured and tailored to their customers specific requirements and disparate data feeds.
- Contracted Rates and Inventory Optimization: The leading payer rates and inventory solution for pharmacies, Plenful optimizes inventory planning, detects rate discrepancies to maximize revenue capture, proactively monitors and alerts for shortages and waste, and forecasts inventory demand. With Plenful, pharmacies can seize missed revenue opportunities, enhance inventory planning, and free their teams from manual tasks.
- Intelligent Document Data Entry Automation: Plenful’s intelligent document solution streamlines this process end-to-end, accurately and efficiently extracting relevant information, enhancing operational efficiency and minimizing errors. Customers can customize the solution with their specific business logic and layer on complex crosswalks, leading to the automation of more than 95% of manual work.
“Our organization has greatly benefited from Plenful’s automated software, which has streamlined the oversight of our 340B program. Their team members who supported our go-live efforts were knowledgeable, responsive, and attentive to our organization’s needs. I recommend Plenful to any organization seeking to leverage machine learning to sustain and advance their 340B program,” said Clement Miller, Chief Operating Officer at Salinas Valley Health.
The Series A funding round was led by TQ Ventures, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Mitchell Rales (Co-founder and Chairman of Danaher), Susa Ventures, and existing investors.
“The ongoing pharmacy labor shortages and increasing workflow complexities highlight the urgent need to enhance operations and reduce administrative burdens through AI and automation technology,” said Andrew Marks, partner and co-founder at TQ Ventures. “We invested in Plenful because of their team, their deep understanding of customer pain points, their strong progress and execution, and their vision for a better healthcare system. As a venture capital firm that backs founders building the future, we believe Plenful represents the future of pharmacy and healthcare operations.”
