Inc. Magazine Names Amy Kao ’17, Co-founder of RxAll, to its 2025 Female Founders 500 List
Amy Kao ’17, co-founder of RxAll, is named to Inc Magazine 2025 Female Founders 500 List. Kao is honored for her leadership, innovation, and ability to forge partnerships that are accelerating access to healthcare in emerging markets.
Inc. Magazine announced today its eighth annual Female Founders list, highlighting the nation’s top business leaders who challenge the status quo to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems.
The list honors a bold group of 500 women whose innovations and ideas are leading their industries forward, and who have collectively attracted approximately $9 billion in 2024 revenue and $10.6 billion in funding.
Amy Kao ’17, co-founder, president and CMO of RxAll, was honored for her leadership, innovation, and ability to forge partnerships that are accelerating access to healthcare in emerging markets. In 2024, RxAll supported 30 million patients and 5,000 pharmacies in Africa and established formal partnerships with pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, GSK, and Merck, as well as the largest African government agencies tackling counterfeit drugs.
Nominees were judged on a range of metrics including revenue, growth, funding, social media momentum, and stories of impact by the Inc. editorial team, executive editor Diana Ransom and the Inc. Female Founders Advisory Board, which includes the following leaders:
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Cate Luzio, founder and CEO of Luminary
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Dany Garcia, founder, CEO, and chairperson of the Garcia Companies
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Pinky Cole Hayes, founder and CEO of Slutty Vegan
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Anu Duggal, founding partner at Female Founders Fund
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Katherine Power, serial entrepreneur and partner at Greycroft
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Tiffany Dufu, president of the Tory Burch Foundation and founder of The Cru
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Kay Koplovitz, co-founder and chair at Springboard Enterprises, founder of USA Network.
“Female founders know what struggle is, but they’re also experts of improvisation, adaptability, and creativity. The women featured on this year’s list exemplify these qualities. Through times of uncertainty, their unwavering dedication and steadfast leadership are not only inspiring but vital to driving progress,” Ransom said.
RxAll was co-founded in 2016 by Kao and her SOM classmate Adebayo Alonge ’16, who is CEO and co-founder. The company is a health-tech platform that leverages AI to scan and eliminate counterfeit drugs, and provides digital infrastructure to emerging market pharmacies and hospitals including the RxAll’s mobile scanner that can authenticate 400 antibiotics in under 20 seconds. In addition, Kao and Alonge have leveraged their deep understanding of financial instruments and emerging market healthcare to solve the local challenges that plague the African pharmacist network, a largely cash economy that is 60% women-owned. These solutions include the creation of a regional payment app and digital wallet accepting hundreds of local currencies, the launch of an RxAll local delivery network, and the financing of solar and battery power for cold chain refrigeration enabling pharmacists to shift from gas generators.
The RxAll model has emerged as a blueprint for accelerating access to healthcare in emerging markets and empowering pharmacies to unlock the value of their transaction data. In 2024, RxAll was selected to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative Greenhouse cohort. As part of this initiative, the company has announced its Commitment to Action to empower African pharmacies in delivering better primary healthcare services. This includes the launch of several key projects including:
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AI for Disease Mapping: Leveraging AI to enhance disease detection and response across the continent.
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Documentary on Fake Drugs: Raising awareness about the dangers of counterfeit medicines.
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Private Label Antibiotics: Introducing high-quality antibiotics to reassure patients of their medication's safety, particularly in this critical therapeutic category.
“I am incredibly honored to be recognized by Inc. alongside such an inspiring group of female founders who are driving meaningful change across industries," said Amy Kao, co-founder of RxAll. "This recognition is a testament to the dedication of my co-founder, Adebayo Alonge, our incredible team, and our partners who are working tirelessly to transform access to safe medication in emerging markets. Together, we have supported 5,000 pharmacies and improved healthcare for 30 million patients in Africa, and we are excited to continue expanding our impact globally.”
Meet the Inc. 2025 Female Founder 500 honorees.
