Sources: online pharmacy Alto, which offers same-day deliveries and medication management apps, has raised ~$250M led by SoftBank, at a valuation of over $1B
BANGALORE (Reuters) - SoftBank's second Vision Fund has led a new round of funding for Silicon Valley-based drug delivery firm Alto Pharmacy …
Context & Ripple Effects
Alto has been building toward this for years: the company began as ScriptDash before its rebrand and $23M Series B in 2017, then added a $50M Series C in late 2018 — both led by Greenoaks Capital. The new ~$250M round marks a step change: SoftBank's Vision Fund II takes the lead and pushes Alto past a $1B valuation.
The timing lands amid a funding surge across the category — Bloomberg counts $650M+ raised since January 2020 by Alto, Capsule, and Medly alone as they target CVS and Walgreens — and follows Ro's $500M raise at a reported $5B valuation. For SoftBank, it echoes a familiar playbook: the firm previously backed Indian hyperlocal delivery player Grofers through successive rounds.
First-order effects
- Alto gains roughly five times its previous largest disclosed round, giving it capital to scale same-day delivery and its medication management apps nationwide while Greenoaks' earlier bets are marked up past unicorn territory.
- SoftBank's Vision Fund II adds another consumer delivery asset to its portfolio, repeating the hyperlocal-delivery thesis it applied to Grofers.
Second-order effects
- Rival digital pharmacies Capsule and Medly face pressure to match Alto's war chest, extending the fundraising race already visible in Ro's $500M round and the category's $650M+ haul since January 2020.
- CVS and Walgreens now compete against well-capitalized delivery-first challengers, forcing the incumbents to defend their fulfillment economics rather than just their store footprints.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, US retail pharmacy splits between store-based incumbents and app-mediated delivery platforms whose unit economics depend on sustained mega-rounds — making capital access itself a competitive moat in drug distribution.
- The concentration of these rounds among a few funds points toward consolidation of digital pharmacy into a handful of scaled players, with SoftBank positioned as a kingmaker across both US pharmacy and international hyperlocal delivery.
The trend: US pharmacy is shifting from store pickup to venture-funded same-day home delivery, with SoftBank-scale checks deciding which platforms survive the buildout.