First Round is a seed-stage venture firm focused on building a vibrant community of technology entrepreneurs and companies, including Uber, Square, and Warby Parker. Through custom-built software, incredible in-person experiences, and a host of other unique services, First Round helps tiny companies get big while constantly reimagining the role of venture capital. It offers a growing number of services and products to help founders build companies from scratch. First Round has adopted the Diversity Term Sheet Rider.

First Round Capital

BoxGroup is an early-stage investment fund that invests in technology companies. The fund aims to invest in the consumer, enterprise, fintech, healthcare, life science, and marketplaces industries at the earliest stage, as early as pre-seed round and as late as Series A. It supports companies based on a conviction in the team and seeks entrepreneurs working at the beginning of movements in existing markets or new markets yet to be created and with visions to create the next generation of category-defining businesses. Their typical investment ranges from $200,000 to $500,000. Adam Rothenberg and David Tisch founded BoxGroup in 2009 in New York, New York.

BoxGroup

Primary is the premier early stage venture firm working alongside founders to build unicorns like Alloy, Chief, Electric, K Health, Slice, Vestwell, and many more.  The firm takes a low-volume, high-conviction approach—and devotes unreasonable resources toward making sure founders can succeed. With an Impact team that outnumbers investors 2:1, operational experts spend 100% of their time making hires, signing customers, and enabling future fundraising to supercharge growth. This partnership with top-tier founders makes companies in Primary’s portfolio 2x more likely to raise a Series A and 19x more likely to reach a billion-dollar-plus valuation—a third of Fund I companies are unicorns, less than a decade out.  We’re always excited to meet 99th-percentile founders building in B2B SaaS, built world, fintech, healthcare, infrastructure, and supply chain. And while we have a home court advantage in NYC, we invest globally, at pre-seed through A.

Primary Venture Partners

Rainfall is an early-stage investor founded in 2011 and committed to partnering with world-class founders to help them change industries. Rainfall invests globally and follows a generalist strategy, pursuing opportunities across sectors with an emphasis on FinTech, No-Code, SaaS, Dev Tools, Gaming, and Digital Health with additional investments in Web3 and AI.

Rainfall Ventures

They aim to support and nourish passionate entrepreneurs and inspiring brands that will make the daily lives of people healthier, happier, and more enlightened. They’re guided by their own experiences as entrepreneurs, and  they view all of their investments as partnerships—working with the founders to reach their unique goals. As individual investors, they are open to different paths to growth and exit strategies, and this flexibility is central to the promise they make their brands: they’re here to help you win big.

Able Partners

Primary Ventures is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage financial companies. The firm facilitates the development of ventures that seek to strengthen the ecosystem of technological solutions linked to the world of markets and finance.

Primary Ventures

Sound Ventures is a venture capital firm. The company seeks to invest in the technology sector.

Sound Ventures

Tusk Venture Partners is the only venture capital firm at the nexus of technology and regulation. TVP is an early-stage venture capital firm based in NYC, focused on investing in technology startups operating in highly-regulated markets.

Tusk Venture Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor that partners with growth-stage technology and software companies. Insight has a deep focus in Fintech, Cybersecurity, AI/ML, DevOps, and Healthcare sectors. Across their people and their portfolio, they encourage a culture around a core belief growth equals opportunity. As of December 31, 2022, the firm has over $75B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 750 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO.

Insight Partners

Optum Ventures provides capital and strategic guidance to startup companies solving health care's pressing challenges. It is the venture capital investment arm of Optum that invests in digital health companies that use data and insights to help improve consumers' access to health care services and how care is delivered and paid for, and that makes the health care system more reliable and easier to navigate.

Optum Ventures

Thoma Bravo is a private equity firm with a 40-year history, including over $30 billion in investor commitments, and a focus on investing in software and technology companies. It pioneered the buy-and-build investment strategy and first applied this strategy to the software and technology industries nearly 20 years ago. Since then, the firm has acquired more than 200 software and technology companies representing over $50 billion in value. Its investment philosophy is centered around working collaboratively with existing management teams to drive superior operating results and innovation. They execute through a partnership-driven approach supported by a set of management principles, operating metrics, and business processes. It supports companies by investing in growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions that drive long-term value.

Thoma Bravo

Cigna Ventures is the arm venture of Cigna, that accelerate growth of start ups in health care industry. The company's mission is to accelerate Cigna’s ability to improve the health, well-being and sense of security of the people we serve by partnering with and investing in innovative companies, and delivering differentiated value in the marketplace. It focuses on harnessing transformative ideas in insights and analytics; digital health and retail; and care delivery and management.

Cigna Ventures

Alma

Alma is a membership-based network for mental health care providers that aims to improve access to high-quality, affordable mental health care. Its platform enables providers to accept insurance and also provides a member directory, client-matching service, scheduling, and billing functions, as well as education, training, and a community for support.

<div><p>Alma is a membership-based telepsychiatry directory of independent mental health providers. The company also provides practice management tools including insurance contracting and scheduling and billing support along with education and training for a monthly fee of USD 125. The company also provides free matching support to patients that use the platform. </p></div>

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

Mental Health Tech

<div>
  <p>
    Alma is a membership-based telepsychiatry directory of independent mental health providers. The company also provides practice management tools including insurance contracting and scheduling and billing support along with education and training for a monthly fee of USD 125. The company also provides free matching support to patients that use the platform. 
  </p>
  <p>
    As of July 2021, Alma’s network of therapists has grown to 2,000 members from 200 in March 2020. The company also experienced a 13x YoY revenue growth compared to  April 2020,  while its insurance program grew 30x in the past 18 months and 95% of its in-network therapists currently accept insurance. 
  </p>
  <p>
    Founded in 2018, the company’s network of providers is currently located throughout  New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The company’s latest funding round took place in August 2021 where it raised USD 50 million in a Series C funding round led by Insight Partners, which valued Alma at USD 500 million. The new funds will be used to expand its platform across the mid-Atlantic region and the East Coast, with further expansion plans in 2022, and scale up its therapist network across the US.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In August 2022, Alma raised USD 130 million in a Series D round led by Thoma Bravo with participation from Cigna Ventures and other venture capital firms. This round led the company to be valued at approximately USD 800 million. The company set aside the funds to expand its geographic footprint across the US. 
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    Boulder Care is a telepsychiatry platform that connects patients who are opioid-addicted users to addiction specialists, care coordinators, and peer coaches. Patients can get personalized plans via video and text messaging and the app is intended to be used in conjunction with prescription medicines and lab tests.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In June 2022, the company raised USD 36 million in a Series B funding round. The funds were earmarked to triple the size of the company’s medical care team, expand its geographical footprint, and increase its value-based care treatment options through partnerships with health plans.
  </p>
</div>


Boulder Care

<div>
  <p>
    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).
  </p>
  <p>
    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.
  </p>
</div>


7 Cups

<div>
  <p>
    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%.
  </p>
  <p>
    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. 
  </p>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


wayForward

<div>
  <p>
    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.
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    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 on top of vital tracking information—such as heart rate data.
  </p>
  <p>
    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.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Key customers and partnerships</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    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. 
  </p>
  <p>
    <b></b>
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Fundings and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In May 2022, the company secured a USD 2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to measure the effectiveness of its 12-week program for treating primary care patients. The study will follow 300 patients across the US with symptoms of major depression for a period of three years.
  </p>
</div>


Meru Health

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

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

Alma

Mental Health Tech

Key stats

Recent Updates

Alma raises USD 130 million in Series D funding

Alma raises USD 50 million in Series C funding

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