GoodRx files to go public with a rare characteristic: Profits
On August 28, 2020, Santa Monica-based GoodRx, a company that helps consumers access prescription drugs at a discount, filed to go public. The company will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol GDRX.
GoodRX has one thing that other fast-growing companies have lacked: a record of consistent profitability.
According to the filing, the company earned $55 million in profit for first half of 2020, up from $31 million in the first half of 2019 -- a jump of 75%. Revenues for the first half of 2020 were $257 million, up from $173 million in the first half of 2019, for growth of 48%.
Founded in 2011 by Facebook veteran Doug Hirsch and serial software entrepreneur Trevor Bezdek, GoodRx came as a result of a need to improve transparency in the highly complex world of prescription drugs. So the company built a set of discount cards and coupons for consumers to take to the pharmacy, often allowing them to get a lower price.
It makes its money by collecting fees from the pharmacy benefits managers, or PBMs, that it works with whenever consumers present their GoodRx coupon at the pharmacy. About 17 million people use GoodRx every month. Going forward, it plans to expand into new areas, including telemedicine.
Hirsch has previously said: “If America as a country decided to keep all Americans healthy and things were upfront and transparent, there would be no need for GoodRx. I don’t suspect that’ll happen, but if it did, I’d happily hang up my hat and move on to another problem.”
The IPO is being led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. The company has previously raised financing from private equity firms specializing in technology and health, including Silver Lake and Francisco Partners. It was valued around $2.8 billion in a 2018 financing round.
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