Develop Health Raises $14.3 Million Series A to Automate Prior Authorization and Medication Access with Generative AI
Develop Health, a fast-growing healthcare technology company focused on modernizing benefits verification and prior authorization, announced today that it has raised $14.3 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by Wing Venture Capital, with participation from Afore Capital, J Ventures, and South Park Commons. With this round, the company’s total funding has reached $17.6 million, underscoring strong investor confidence in its mission to remove one of healthcare’s most persistent barriers: ensuring patients can access and afford the medications their providers prescribe.
The company’s core innovation lies in its EHR-integrated, GenAI-powered platform, which automates and accelerates the burdensome process of prior authorization. For decades, prior authorization has been a source of friction between providers, patients, and payers—delaying treatments, increasing provider administrative burden, and worsening outcomes for patients who cannot start therapy in a timely manner. Develop Health aims to change this dynamic through an infrastructure built specifically around purpose-built large language model pipelines that seamlessly integrate with provider workflows.
A Platform Built Entirely Around Generative AI
At the heart of Develop Health’s solution is a platform designed from the ground up with over a dozen specialized large language model pipelines. Unlike legacy systems, which often rely on rigid rule-based coding and extensive manual intervention, Develop Health’s platform uses GenAI to dynamically process, interpret, and route the complex documentation required for benefits verification and prior authorization.
The process works in several steps:
- Real-time insurance verification – The system confirms patient coverage directly within the electronic health record (EHR) at the point of care.
- Automated prior authorization package generation – Using AI, it compiles the necessary documentation and submits it directly to the payer.
- Continuous follow-up and tracking – The platform monitors payer responses, eliminating the need for repeated provider or staff check-ins.
- Structured data return – Once approved (or denied), results are fed back into the provider’s EHR in a structured format, maintaining clean, actionable data.
By automating this end-to-end workflow, providers can focus on clinical care rather than paperwork. The system is already demonstrating dramatic impact: form completion times have been reduced by more than 80%, and approval rates have improved significantly, reducing patient drop-off and increasing medication adherence.
Founders with Firsthand Experience of the Problem
Develop Health was founded by Mel van Londen and Benjamin Easton, both of whom previously worked at provider-facing healthcare startups Canvas Medical and Rupa Health. In those roles, they witnessed firsthand how poor communication between providers and payers caused treatment delays, administrative waste, and revenue loss. Patients often faced uncertainty about whether they could afford prescribed treatments, while providers struggled to dedicate time to navigating the administrative maze.
This frustration became the spark for Develop Health. The founders envisioned a platform that could act as what they now call “healthcare’s agentic clearinghouse”—a digital intermediary that works on behalf of both providers and payers to smooth the pathway from prescription to patient access.
“We believe providers should be able to make care decisions with full visibility into a patient’s plan,” said Mel van Londen, co-founder and CEO of Develop Health. “A prescription that isn’t affordable or accessible is no prescription at all. Our mission is to build the infrastructure that ensures every care decision can be carried through to patient access without friction.”
Expansion Plans with Series A Funding
The fresh $14.3 million investment will enable Develop Health to scale beyond its current core focus on supporting digital health companies that operate in the pharmacy benefit space. Today, many of its clients span therapeutic areas such as GLP-1 treatments, addiction medicine, neurology, dermatology, and psychiatry.
With the new funding, the company plans to:
- Expand into the medical benefit market, addressing medications and therapies that fall outside the traditional pharmacy benefit category.
- Deepen integrations with EHRs and PBMs, further streamlining the link between prescribing and payer approval.
- Extend reach into traditional provider organizations, including hospitals and outpatient clinics, not just digital health companies.
This trajectory positions Develop Health to become a backbone technology for the healthcare system at large, rather than a niche solution.
Investor Perspective: Why This Matters
Investors see Develop Health as addressing one of healthcare’s most stubborn pain points: the administrative bottleneck in medication access.
“Develop Health is solving one of the most frustrating pain points in healthcare—getting patients the medications they need without weeks of paperwork and endless back-and-forth,” said Sara Choi, Partner at Wing Venture Capital. “They’ve built a system that puts GenAI to work in one of the industry’s most critical, overlooked workflows. Develop Health is positioned to become essential infrastructure for any provider dealing with medication access complexity.”
The enthusiasm from investors reflects a broader trend in healthcare technology funding. As payers and providers alike struggle with growing volumes of administrative complexity, startups that can reduce friction, improve outcomes, and drive efficiency are gaining traction. Develop Health’s GenAI-driven approach aligns with this momentum.
Proven Impact and Growing Momentum
In only a few months since launching, Develop Health has demonstrated remarkable traction. The company is on pace to help more than 1 million patients access their medications by the end of the year.
Key outcomes reported include:
- Over 80% reduction in time spent completing forms, freeing up staff capacity.
- Improved approval rates, leading to faster patient access to therapies.
- Reduced patient churn, as individuals face fewer delays and uncertainties in starting treatment.
- Better clarity in setting patient expectations, since providers can immediately confirm coverage.
These operational improvements translate not only into cost savings and efficiency for providers but also into meaningful improvements in patient care. A prescription delivered at the right time can prevent disease progression, reduce hospitalizations, and improve long-term outcomes.
The company credits its progress to its exceptional engineering team, including Jack Collins, Juan de Urtubey, and Zygimantas Koncius, whose technical expertise has powered the development of the platform’s unique AI infrastructure.
The Bigger Picture: Why Prior Authorization Matters
While prior authorization may sound like a back-office administrative task, its impact on patient care is profound. Studies have shown that prior authorization requirements are among the leading causes of delayed treatment initiation. For patients with chronic conditions—ranging from diabetes and neurological disorders to cancer—these delays can have life-altering consequences.
At the same time, providers bear the brunt of the burden. Physicians and their teams spend hours each week filling out forms, making phone calls, and waiting on responses from payers. According to surveys, prior authorization is consistently ranked among the most frustrating and time-consuming administrative tasks in healthcare.
By addressing this workflow, Develop Health is not only improving provider efficiency but also tackling one of the largest hidden drivers of healthcare inefficiency and patient dissatisfaction.
About Develop Health
Develop Health is on a mission to empower providers by eliminating the friction of prior authorization and improving visibility into patient plan benefits. The company positions itself as healthcare’s agentic clearinghouse, beginning with medication access but with ambitions to expand further across payer-provider workflows.
Today, Develop Health supports hundreds of thousands of patients each month in getting the treatments they need—while reducing administrative work related to medication access by more than 83%. Its EHR-integrated, GenAI-powered platform is designed to ensure that no prescription stalls due to paperwork or lack of visibility.
With strong investor backing, a rapidly scaling client base, and a clear vision for the future, Develop Health is poised to become a foundational infrastructure company in the healthcare ecosystem—bringing together payers, providers, and patients around the shared goal of timely, affordable access to care.
