73. Echo

Company: Echo 

Founder: Sai Lakshmi and Stephen Bourke

Website: www.echo.co.uk

The Business: A health-tech startup helping users to manage their medication/prescriptions through an online app.

 

About Echo

Founded in 2015, Echo offers an online platform where users can manage their medication remotely, able to order repeat prescriptions on the app to be delivered straight to their home, a family member’s, a friend’s or a collection point. Users simply have to fill in a few medical details, including information about their GP, the repeat prescription they have and the delivery address for the medication to be sent to.

Self-confessed as England’s “fastest growing pharmacy” Echo offers an incredibly handy service, particularly during the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown and its subsequent social distancing measures, helping people to access their repeat prescriptions without having to leave their homes.

 

echo-healthcare-app

 

Echo was inspired by Lakshmi’s and Bourke’s “shared frustration with a system that’s confusing and has yet to properly take advantage of mobile technology” both of the founders taking repeat prescriptions themselves, and therefore knowing first-hand the issues with this process.

The startup was built to put users first, helping people to get the medication they need, easier and faster than ever before. Delivery for these prescriptions is free, and users only have to pay for the cost of the prescription itself. Last year, in June 2019, McKesson (owners of LloydsPharmacy) acquired Echo. To date the service works with more than 9,500 NHS England surgeries, and since the coronavirus has accelerated its services to keep up with the surge in demand from its users.