Cerebral lets people schedule virtual visits with a therapist or care counselor. Photo credit: Cerebral
With SoftBank’s second vision fund as a backer, mental health startup Cerebral recently closed a $300 million funding round. The startup has raised a total of $462 million to date, giving it a $4.8 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg.
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles also recently struck a partnership with the company, joining as an investor and its chief impact officer.
San Francisco-based Cerebral is one of several online mental health startups, providing counseling, therapy and medication delivery through an online platform.
The company, which has been around for just a year, has a subscription model where patients can pay a monthly fee for counseling, therapy or medication delivery. For instance, a monthly subscription for weekly visits with a therapist costs $259 per month. The company also has partnerships with insurers, including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Magellan and Medicare, and said it is striking partnerships with employers.
Cerebral claims it has 2,000 clinicians, and practices across all 50 states. There are some limitations: while it offers medication-assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder, it doesn’t treat all substance use conditions. Cerebral also does not offer treatment for schizophrenia or suicidal ideation, according to its website.
Founder and CEO Kyle Robertson said Cerebral would use the funds to build a “one-stop shop” for mental healthcare, with the goal of providing care for a wide range of conditions and through multiple treatment modalities, including medication management, therapy, and digital therapeutics.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“It is still just the beginning for Cerebral,” he said in a news release.
Of course, Cerebral has plenty of competition to contend with, as other mental health startups raise funding and look to win over contracts with employers. Other competitors that provide therapy, coaching and medication include Ginger, which recently merged with Headspace Health to form a $3 billion company, and Lyra, which is valued at $4.6 billion.
