Mandolin, a San Francisco-based platform leveraging AI automation to enhance access to specialty drugs, has secured $40 million in funding to expand its operations and deepen customer implementations. The investment round attracted participation from Maverick, SignalFire, SV Angel, Greylock Partners, Jerry Yang (cofounder of Yahoo!) and Guillermo Rauch (CEO of Vercel).
The company's AI-enabled workflow automation platform addresses the complex administrative landscape surrounding specialty medications. Its AI agents handle critical functions including intake processes, prior authorizations, benefits verification, and revenue cycle management. The platform integrates seamlessly with electronic health records, manufacturer hubs, and payer portals, streamlining operations across the specialty drug ecosystem.
Since launching its product in January, Mandolin has achieved rapid market penetration with deployment across more than 700 clinical locations. This swift adoption reflects the pressing need for administrative efficiency in the specialty drug sector, where complexity often creates barriers to patient access.
"We'll use this capital to grow the team, primarily focusing on world-class engineering and customer implementation talent in order to more deeply serve the needs of our sophisticated customers," Will Yin, cofounder and CEO of Mandolin, told MobiHealthNews in an email.
The investment comes at a critical juncture for the specialty drug market. Research published in the Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy reveals that total spending on specialty drugs has surged from 21.7% in 2012 to 71.1% in 2021. While these medications represented only 6.2% of prescriptions in 2021, they commanded 71.1% of total pharmaceutical spending, highlighting both their importance and the administrative burden they create.
Mandolin operates in an increasingly competitive landscape. Serve You Rx, a pharmacy benefit manager, recently announced a collaboration with Amazon Pharmacy to provide home delivery services for maintenance medications. The partnership enables Serve You Rx members to access common medications while specialty patients can utilize Waltz Health's AI-powered platform for their specialty drug needs. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs has also entered the space through a collaboration with specialty pharmaceutical distributor Morris & Dickson, offering access to injectable medications via the Cost Plus Marketplace. Additionally, California-based SamaCare, which provides a workflow platform for providers offering specialty medication, secured $17 million in a Series B investment round last year.
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