I grew up in pharmacies. The hum of the label printer, the glass jars, the low buzz of small talk over the counter, that was my soundtrack. My mom’s been a pharmacy assistant since before I could reach the counter myself, Shore Park Pharmacy, Long Beach Chemists, Arlo Pharmacy. I watched her treat every patient like family, even when the line was long and the pay was short. Those pharmacies weren’t just businesses; they were community anchors. But over time, I saw them squeezed by chain consolidation, insurance margins, and the slow grind of “efficiency.” Somewhere along the way, the corner pharmacy became an endangered species.
So when I came across SiteLabs, it hit home. Founded in Oct 2020 by Co-Founder & CEO Darren Schaupp, SiteLabs is giving independent pharmacies something they haven’t had in years, a new lane to thrive. They just closed an oversubscribed $2M Seed Round led by Boomerang Ventures, with Labcorp Venture Fund & SC Launch, Inc. joining in. Schaupp’s journey, from fieldwork in Ethiopia, Uganda & Kenya to leading innovation at American Leprosy Missions, gave him a rare lens on healthcare access. He saw what I saw growing up: pharmacies are where trust lives, and trust is the most valuable currency in healthcare.
SiteLabs built the tech to turn that trust into impact. A cloud-based, HIPAA & PCI-compliant platform that lets pharmacies run CLIA-waived diagnostic tests, manage referrals, and connect patients to clinical trials, all without adding staff or complexity. In their pilot, just 6 pharmacies ran 6,300+ preventive screenings. Diabetes, cholesterol, flu, strep, it’s the care people need, in the places they already go.
This $2M round is more than funding, it’s a signal that community care still matters. With Cone Health Ventures helping expand pilots and Boomerang Ventures providing both capital and expertise, SiteLabs is scaling from SC to hundreds of pharmacies nationwide. Schaupp’s team, Head of Growth Warren Dodge, Technical Ops Manager Tim Murakami, Clinical Services Coordinator Paige Ralson & Community Engagement Rep Diane Lissaint, has the grit to pull it off.
I’ve seen what happens when the system forgets the little guys behind the counter. SiteLabs hasn’t. They’re betting that the future of preventive care isn’t hiding in an app store, it’s sitting behind the counter, waiting to help. And for anyone who’s ever grown up in a pharmacy, that feels less like disruption and more like redemption.
