Rightway Raises $155 Million to Challenge the Economics of America's Pharmacy Benefit Giants

Few parts of the American healthcare system attract as much criticism — or as much money — as pharmacy benefit management. A New York company that has built its business on promising to do it differently has just raised a large new round of funding to take on the industry's giants.

Rightway, a pharmacy benefit management and care navigation company, has raised $155 million in a Series E financing round led by Francisco Partners, with participation from existing investors Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, the company announced. The round was reported on September 24 and formally announced by the company on September 25.

Rightway says it now serves 45 Fortune 500 companies. The capital will be used to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities and the technology that powers its pharmacy benefits model.

What a PBM does — and why it matters

Pharmacy benefit managers sit between employers, insurers, drugmakers and pharmacies. They negotiate drug prices and rebates with manufacturers, build lists of covered medicines, process prescription claims and set the prices paid to pharmacies.

In theory, PBMs use their scale to lower costs for employers and patients. In practice, the industry has faced intense scrutiny in the United States for business practices that critics say can increase costs. These include retaining a share of manufacturer rebates, charging employers more for a drug than they pay pharmacies — a practice known as spread pricing — and steering patients towards pharmacies they own.

The US PBM market is highly concentrated, with three large companies, owned by or affiliated with major health insurers, handling a large majority of prescriptions. Lawmakers and regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, have examined their practices in recent years.

Rightway's alternative model

Rightway positions itself as a transparent alternative. Its SureSpend model includes what it calls a Precision Pricing Guarantee, designed to give employers more predictable pharmacy costs. It also offers a Zero-Markup Wrap, which covers GLP-1 drugs and rare medications at their true net cost, with 100% of rebates passed through to the employer.

The company combines this pharmacy benefit offering with care navigation tools and access to pharmacists, aiming to help members understand their options, find lower-cost alternatives and stay on the right medications.

"No one is better positioned to manage the pharmacy benefit than Rightway," said Jordan Feldman, the company's co-founder and chief executive.

Kristin Devlin, Rightway's chief pharmacy officer, highlighted the role of pharmacists. "Pharmacists go into healthcare to help people, but retail pharmacy realities have made it harder," she said.

The cost pressure on employers

Rightway's growth is being driven by a serious problem for American employers: rising drug costs.

According to data cited by the company, prescription drug spending among large US employers rose 9.4% in 2025, compared with a 6% increase in overall health benefit costs. Prescription drugs are projected to be the fastest-growing major category of healthcare spending over the next decade.

A major factor is the rapid adoption of GLP-1 drugs, such as those used for diabetes and weight management. These medicines have transformed treatment for millions of patients but are expensive, and demand has surged. Employers are struggling to decide whether and how to cover them, and how to manage the cost.

Specialty and rare-disease medicines are another source of pressure. These drugs can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year per patient, and a small number of patients can account for a large share of an employer's total pharmacy spending.

In this environment, employers are increasingly questioning whether traditional PBM arrangements are delivering value, and some are willing to switch to newer providers that offer greater transparency.

Why investors are backing it

For investors, Rightway represents a bet that the PBM market is ripe for disruption.

The prize is large. Pharmacy benefits represent hundreds of billions of dollars in annual spending in the United States, and even a small share of the market can support a substantial business. The growing political and regulatory pressure on incumbent PBMs also creates an opening for challengers that can demonstrate lower costs and clearer pricing.

Francisco Partners, which led the round, is a technology-focused investment firm with experience in healthcare technology. Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures have been long-term backers of the company.

The strategic question is whether technology can change the incentives and operating costs of a large, complex industry. Rightway's investors are effectively underwriting the idea that large employers will switch from incumbents if a challenger can show both lower drug spending and a better experience for employees.

The role of AI

Rightway plans to use part of the new funding to expand its AI capabilities.

In pharmacy benefits, AI can be applied in several ways: identifying lower-cost therapeutic alternatives, flagging potential drug interactions, predicting which members might stop taking important medications, automating prior authorisation processes and answering member questions quickly.

These are areas where better data and automation could improve both costs and health outcomes. But the real value lies in combining technology with pharmacists and clinical expertise, rather than replacing them — a balance Rightway emphasises in its model.

Challenges ahead

Rightway faces formidable competitors. The largest PBMs have enormous scale, long-standing relationships with employers and insurers, and extensive networks of pharmacies. Winning large employer contracts often involves long sales cycles and complex transitions.

Switching PBMs is also disruptive for employers and their staff. Members may need new pharmacy cards, some medicines may move between coverage tiers, and prior approvals may need to be renewed. Challengers must therefore offer savings large enough, and service good enough, to justify the effort of changing — which is why Rightway pairs its pricing model with pharmacist support and navigation tools.

Newer, transparent PBMs also compete with each other, and incumbents have introduced their own transparent pricing options in response to pressure from customers and regulators.

A global lesson

For readers outside the United States, the PBM debate may seem distant. But it highlights a challenge that many countries share: how to manage rising drug costs while ensuring access to innovative medicines. In India, where out-of-pocket spending on medicines remains a significant burden for many households, questions about pricing transparency and the role of intermediaries are also increasingly relevant.

Rightway's $155 million round shows that investors see real value in companies that can make drug pricing clearer and more efficient. If the company can continue winning large employers, it could help reshape one of the most criticised corners of American healthcare.