Manchester-based PharmAppy has “received angel investment” from the CEO at Bristol-based tech pioneer Invatech Health and its flagship product Titan PMR, a statement revealed yesterday (August 21).
“Doyen of digital pharmacy” Tariq Muhammad invested a “six-figure sum for a minority share in the early-stage business, which he expects to continue the digital transformation of the pharmacy sector”, Titan said.
PharmAppy, which “creates seamless communication between pharmacies and their patients”, was originally set up in 2020 by “school friends turned entrepreneurs Rhys Lloyd and Josh Ablett” in a bedroom in Prestatyn, North Wales, it added.
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It has since been adopted by more than 600 patients at two local pharmacies, according to the statement.
The two young software designers - now in their early 20s - were “originally fuelled by a passion to help their grandparents who were struggling with the shortcomings of modern community pharmacy”, it said.
They received the financial backing from Mr Muhammad after connecting on LinkedIn and meeting at last autumn’s Pharmacy Show and will now also benefit from the investor’s mentoring as well as technical support from Invatech Health’s team of 50, it added.
“No one we’d rather have on board”
The new investment will fund integration between Titan and PharmAppy to expand the app’s functionalities, such as to offer the ordering and booking of additional pharmacy services, tracking of medication and direct communication between patients and pharmacists, Titan said.
“Frankly, there’s no one we’d rather have on board than Mr Muhammad,” PharmAppy chief executive Mr Lloyd said, adding that the duo are “excited” for what lies ahead in light of the investor’s "extensive experience in pharmacy, business and digital technology”.
He added that his father has worked in pharmacy for more than 25 years and “often talked about how antiquated some of the processes are” - which was a “key driver” to develop the business.
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The app will “help enable pharmacies to grow – by empowering the pharmacist, allowing them to add services, improve safety and communicate more efficiently with their patients”, Mr Lloyd said.
“In the very early days, we worked additional jobs to help cover costs and regularly stayed up until 2am, designing and developing the first version of the app to get the business off the ground,” PharmAppy chief technology officer Mr Ablett added.
He said that they have received “both positive and constructive feedback” from patients and pharmacy teams using PharmAppy’s first version and that they are looking forward to “seeing the new PharmAppy Version 2 with Titan integration to be rolled out across the UK”.
“The art of the possible”
Mr Muhammad said it was “important to state that this is not the first app that Titan has supported and it won’t be the last”.
But he added that working “so closely” with PharmAppy presents the “opportunity to demonstrate the art of the possible when it comes to connecting pharmacies to their patients”.
“I’m an entrepreneur myself and I’m impressed with what Rhys and Josh have achieved,” he said. “It’s great to be able to support their efforts and I’m looking forward to working with them more closely.”
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Titan PMR is a cloud-based system that manages end-to-end pharmacy workflow and in 2019, it became the “first patient medication record system to receive industry accreditation from the NHS in more than a decade”, it said.
It has “rapidly grown” among independent and online pharmacies, with Titan now processing “more than 5%” of all medicine prescriptions in the UK at four million per month and this number “expected to double in the next year”, it added.
