Declaration Partners is a private investment firm that specializes in direct investments designed to optimize long-term financial appreciation. Declaration Partners is looking to invest in the consumer, fintech, healthcare, software, and real estate sectors. Declaration Partners also makes investments on behalf of family offices and like-minded institutional investors.

Declaration Partners

With $360 million under management, Ballast Point Ventures invests in established but rapidly growing, privately owned companies, with a particular emphasis on companies located in the Southeast and Texas. This region accounts for 22% of the national GDP and the region's favorable business climate and strong quality of life make an attractive home to thousands of talented entrepreneurs working to build great companies.  The BPV partners have spent their careers building and investing in outstanding companies throughout the region – partnering with entrepreneurs who prefer to work with high quality partners ''in their own backyard'' who understand not only their businesses but also the local community. Our proximity to our portfolio companies and emphasis on long term relationships have allowed us to focus on adding value for our companies in ways that other firms investing across the country find difficult to match.  We are ''growth capital'' investors and we work with companies that demonstrate proven business models and have strong management teams. We invest in a diversified group of industries that we believe have favorable growth and investment characteristics, and in which both the BPV Partners and our partners at Raymond James Financial have substantial knowledge and experience. These industries include health care, business services, communications, information technology, financial services and consumer/retail.  Our experience shows that by partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs with experience, vision and integrity, we can invest across a broad range of industries and help our entrepreneur partners generate attractive investment returns for both themselves and their investors. We are financial and strategic partners rather than operators, and we prefer minority ownership stakes to control positions.

Ballast Point Ventures

Kapor Capital is an investment firm that invests in early-stage tech-enabled startups. They are an Oakland-based fund that understands that startup companies have the ability to transform entire industries and to address urgent social needs as they do so. It was founded in 1999 and headquartered in Oakland, California.

Kapor Capital

B Capital Group backs brash entrepreneurs building technology companies. With offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Singapore, B Capital Group focuses on pioneering start-ups that are ready to scale across the global stage. Partnering with Boston Consulting Group, and its incubation arm BCG Digital Ventures, B Capital delivers access to top corporations to match start-ups with the world's most powerful CEOs, platforms, and brands. B Capital Group's unique multinational presence, combined with deep industry expertise, has built a portfolio of B2B and B2B2C startups that are transforming large traditional industries across borders and geographies. It helps startups navigate business challenges, raise capital, and attract talented leadership at key points of their journeys to scale.

B Capital

Front Porch provides accredited investors and family offices properly diversified exposure to the Southeast’s top venture capital firms and startups.

Front Porch Venture Partners

Uplift

UpLift wants to create a future in which a main mental health practitioner is the new standard by providing everyone with access to affordable care.

UpLift provides an online platform that helps connect users with therapists and psychiatrists for virtual consultations. The company provides sessions with licensed experts to help users deal with issues such as loss, anxiety, sleep issues, trauma, parenthood, relationships, stress, burnout, and gender and sexual identity.&nbsp;

New technologies are opening up mental health services to previously overbooked and underserved populations.

Mental Health Tech

UpLift

UpLift provides an online platform that helps connect users with therapists and psychiatrists for virtual consultations. The company provides sessions with licensed experts to help users deal with issues such as loss, anxiety, sleep issues, trauma, parenthood, relationships, stress, burnout, and gender and sexual identity.&nbsp;The platform claims that 84% of users with severe depression felt those symptoms lessen through its services. UpLift offers next-day appointments with therapists that are curated and matched based on user needs. It also offers medication management services.&nbsp;In November 2023 the company acquired similar platform provider Minded to expand UpLift's platform to Minded's patient base. Furthermore, in March 2024, UpLift expanded its services to the higher education sector through the acquisition of TAO Connect, an online platform providing mental health tools and resources specifically for college students.Key customers and partnershipsThe company operates on a D2C basis, offering consultations to users for USD 20 per session, and on a B2B2C basis, working with healthcare providers and health plans, including UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, and Cigna as well as Medicare and Medicaid health plans.In July 2023, the company partnered with AmeriHealth Caritas D.C. to offer mental health care services. Both parties collaborated to enroll new and existing healthcare providers onto UpLift’s platform, enabling mental health providers to offer their services through the platform.

Boulder Care is a telehealth provider that offers virtual addiction treatment for substance use disorders, primarily focusing on opioid and alcohol use disorders. The company provides medical care, medication management, peer recovery coaching, and case management services through a mobile app, allowing patients to connect with a multidisciplinary care team, including physicians, nurse practitioners, peer recovery specialists, and social services support. Boulder Care's treatment approach includes medication-assisted treatment (MAT), prescribing medications such as buprenorphine-naloxone (Suboxone) for opioid use disorder and naltrexone, acamprosate, and others for alcohol use disorder. The company also delivers naloxone doses to patients to help reverse opioid overdoses.The company has implemented value-based payment arrangements with insurers, tying its financial success to patient outcomes. As of May 2024, Boulder Care had served over 12,000 patients across multiple states, with a concentration in Washington, Oregon, and Ohio. The company reports retention rates of 70%–80% of patients remaining in treatment after six months, significantly above the national average. Boulder Care had also expanded its services to include treatment for adolescents as of January 2024.Key customers and partnershipsBoulder Care has established partnerships with numerous health plans and employers to provide access to its services, including Elevance Health, UnitedHealth Community Plan, and Centene.

Boulder Care

<div>
 
 7 Cups provides an emotional-support platform with a network of volunteer listeners. Users can anonymously access either one-on-one chats or group chats 24/7, free of charge for issues such as depression, anxiety, relationships and those related to the LGBTQ+ community. It also teaches users skills such as meditation to improve their lives. If users want additional support, the company also provides access to an online therapy platform with a network of 180 licensed therapists for a subscription plan of USD 150 per month. 7 Cups is available for users above 13 years of age (users between 13 and 17 years old engage with listeners who are specifically trained in teenage interactions).
 
 
 Volunteer peer listeners get free training and support as well as flexible scheduling. Once a user requests a chat, it will be directed to available listeners and if the user requests a specific listener, he will be connected as soon as the listener accepts the demand. The service is anonymous and the listener has no access to the details of the user unless the information is disclosed to the listener by the user in their conversations. As of January 2022, 7 Cups has facilitated more than 51 million conversations, served 25 million individuals, and had 300,000 trained listeners. The listeners serve in 180 countries in 140 languages.
 
</div>

7 Cups

wayForward provides technology-supported behavioral health and emotional wellness services for employers planning to make services available to their employees. It uses a screening procedure designed by neuropsychologists to triage and help employee members get clinically relevant mental healthcare. The company provides a self-guided app, text-based coaching, video visits, telepsychiatry, and if required, in-person visits or an on-site counselor. wayForward leverages its evidence-based approach and artificial intelligence in delivering its services and claims that it has been able to reduce anxiety symptoms by 48% and depression symptoms by 59%.The company raised USD 2 million in a seed round in June 2020, which brought total funding to USD 4.5 million. DarioHealth, a chronic disease management platform based in Israel, signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of wayForward in May 2021 for a total consideration of USD 30 million. As of May 2021, the wayForward had approximately 20,000 members and was available in North America, Australia, and Europe.

wayForward

Coa is a mental health company that conducts online classes led by licensed therapists for mental health users. The classes focus on conditions such as stress, anxiety, confidence and relationships. The company raised USD 3 million in a seed round in October 2020 from investors led by Crosslink Capital.

Meru Health is an online platform that connects patients experiencing stress, depression, anxiety, burnout, and other mental health issues to licensed therapists. The company was founded by Kristian Ranta in 2016 after his older brother died from suicide after battling depression. The platform offers a 12-week program and personalized text-based coaching services and virtual workshops. Meru also provides access to progress reports and anonymous peer support groups as well as sleep, nutrition, and mindfulness advice. The program utilizes a wearable device that monitors heart rate variability and provides real-time feedback, allowing patients to visualize the connection between their mental and physical health.In March 2024, Meru Health introduced a 100% fees-at-risk pricing model for healthcare payers and employers, guaranteeing outcomes, access, and engagement. This value-based care approach aims to incentivize enrollment, quality care delivery, cost management, and medical cost savings.The company reported a 10x YoY growth in its customer base in 2020 and plans to serve 10 million users by 2027. The company also achieved 8x YoY growth in revenue in 2020 amid an increase in demand in mental health services brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.Key customers and partnershipsMeru Health partners with major health insurance providers, including Humana, Aetna, and Moda Health. In January 2022, the company joined Evernorth's national behavioral health provider network, making its services available to Cigna health plan customers accessing benefits through their employer or individual and family plans.Meru Health also works with employer groups to provide mental healthcare for employees. In September 2022, Meru Health and clinical trial platform Curebase <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13230">announced a partnership </a>to carry out a three-year clinical trial to measure the effectiveness of Meru Health’s 12-week digital depression treatment targeting primary care patients. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Small Business Innovation Research program.

Meru Health

Online peer-to-peer platform and support system that connects mental health communities.

Mobile-based apps and FDA-approved software that incorporate evidenced-based cognitive behavioral therapy to prevent, treat, or manage mental and behavioral conditions in conjunction with or as a replacement for traditional medication.

Products for behavioral health and mental health tracking, measurement-based care, and real-time remote monitoring of patients.

Subscription or membership-based platforms and apps to connect therapists, psychiatrists or behavioral health coaches with patients.

Offers virtual offerings for mental health consultations

Mental healthcare services offer personalized care tailored to a user's needs and treatment progression

There are mental health providers offering services specifically to help LGBTQ+ or BIPOC individuals

Several mental health technology providers offer therapy services rendered by AI/ML technology

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 UpLift, a mental health solution provider, has acquired TAO Connect, a company offering therapy-assisted mental health services to educational institutions. The purchase price remains undisclosed.
 This acquisition broadens UpLift's service range and its market geographical reach. UpLift can now cater to over 170 enterprise customers across the US and Canada, serving more than 4 million individuals. This population includes over two million students from more than 120 higher education institutions in the US.
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 In order to expand its market, the company also <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/24014"> acquired a similar platform provider, Minded </a> , in November 2023 for an undisclosed sum. Following the acquisition, UpLift planned to leverage the increased capacity to expand its services to all 50 states, beginning with California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

UpLift

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