Nurx

Nurx was a telehealth startup that initially focused on making birth control and PrEP (HIV prevention medication) accessible via smartphone. Founded by Hans Gangeskar and Edvard Engesaeth, the company allowed patients to get prescriptions for reproductive health medications, STI testing, and other sensitive healthcare needs through a simple app — without visiting a doctor's office. The concept resonated powerfully, particularly with young women in states with limited reproductive healthcare access. Nurx raised over $150 million from investors including Union Square Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Y Combinator. The company expanded rapidly, adding dermatology (acne treatment), mental health prescriptions, and at-home testing kits. At its peak, Nurx claimed over 500,000 patients and operated in most US states. But the business model had fundamental problems. Pharmacy fulfillment and medication shipping costs were high. Insurance billing was complex and error-prone, with high denial rates. The company needed to maintain medical licenses in every state it operated in, and regulatory requirements varied widely. Most critically, the average revenue per patient was too low to cover the cost of acquiring patients, maintaining the platform, and paying for physician consultations. In 2020, Nurx was acquired by Thirty Madison, a telehealth holding company. But the challenges persisted. By 2023, Nurx was shut down as Thirty Madison consolidated its brands, unable to make the unit economics work despite significant scale. The closure left hundreds of thousands of patients needing to find new providers for sensitive medications — a particularly painful outcome given that many had chosen Nurx specifically because traditional healthcare options were inaccessible to them.