Semih Gultekin announced he has left Aviary Health to found Kanurra, a pharmacy benefit manager for small and midsize employers, raising $6.35 million to build the company. Investors in the round include Asylum Ventures, Daybreak Ventures, Virtue VC, Necessary Ventures, Ford Street Ventures, and Browder Capital, along with a group of individual investors.
Kanurra is building routing and administrative infrastructure aimed at reducing drug costs for employers who Gultekin said are often squeezed by pharmaceutical pricing they can’t control or clearly see.
The company said it is already seeing strong response from brokers, third-party administrators, and captives, and has its first customers ready to begin working with the platform.
Kanurra is currently hiring for roles including a pharmacist to lead its clinical work, operators to oversee implementation and day-to-day service, sales and go-to-market staff to work with brokers and third-party administrators, and engineers.
KEY QUOTE:
“Growing up, my family struggled to afford the medications we needed. Working in the industry, I found the same problem at a different scale: employers getting squeezed by drug costs they can’t control and often can’t even see clearly. Kanurra is building new routing and administrative infrastructure to bring those costs down, so companies can offer their people better care for less.”
Semih Gultekin, CEO, Kanurra
