9lione raises $780,000 Series A to redistribute surplus medicines in Japan

What's the deal? 9lioneDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which runs a pharmaceutical redistribution platform of the same name, has raised ¥120 million (roughly $780,000) in a Series A round led by Yokohama CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The round, announced in September, also drew existing investors and debt, bringing total funding to date to ¥440 million.

What does it do? The company moves surplus medicines sitting idle at hospitals and pharmacies to other facilities that need them. It operates a cloud inventory system to curb leftover stock and a platform for selling excess drugs or sourcing hard-to-find ones.

How it works: 9lione holds a wholesale distribution licence and trades as a wholesaler carrying its own stock, handling everything from quality control to delivery. It says its operations comply with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) standards and allow distribution history to be traced. Annual transaction volume has passed ¥2 billion.

What's the money for? The company will expand its logistics and sales sites and build products for medical institutions, including AI-driven inventory visibility and automated transactions. It also plans to hire across regulatory affairs, product management, engineering, and corporate functions.

What's the endgame? 9lione is developing AI demand forecasting to support stable supply at fair prices. The aim is to cut inventory burdens for hospitals and help ease drug shortages.

The signal: The raise is modest — sitting in roughly the 17th percentile by amount — but it targets a persistent problem in healthcare logistics, where waste and shortages coexist. A licensed wholesaler built around redistribution and demand forecasting is a bet that better data can make drug supply more efficient.

Image credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture