Cerebral

Cerebral is a telepsychiatry platform that provides access to online psychiatrists and medicine for anxiety, depression, insomnia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Members fill out a form to help identify their symptoms, connect with a psychiatrist over a video call, and get access to a care counselor. After the first visit, members will get a monthly delivery of their prescriptions, the opportunity to chat with a care counselor, and access to a psychiatrist as required. The company provides treatment primarily for anxiety, depression, and insomnia through video or phone appointments with licensed therapists, care counselors, and prescribing providers. 

In May 2022, the company announced a new transformation program for the company, which will focus on growth and patient experience, named “Cerebral Core.” The program includes objectives for reviewing quality practices while enhancing user and clinician experiences. This is in response to the company being investigated by several government authorities such as the Federal Trade Commission , the Department of Justice and the DEA . These investigations followed after a report by Bloomberg found the company’s prescribing practices to be too lenient. Since the investigations began, Cerebral paused , and then subsequently halted , issuing prescriptions. Following this, the company replaced its CEO.

Cerebral raised USD 300 million in Series C funding in December 2021 led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which nearly quadrupled its valuation to USD 4.8 billion from USD 1.2 billion in June 2021.

Key customers and partnerships

As of February 2022, Cerebral had served more than 420,000 patients since its inception in January 2020 and had a network of more than 2,000 healthcare providers across all 50 states as of December 2021. Cerebral works with several major health insurance providers to offer in-network coverage, including Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare. The company also accepts Medicare in select states.