Digital Therapy Company Talkspace Raises $50M For Commercial Expansion

The New York-based, Israeli-founded company Talkspace, which connects patients with licensed therapists and counseling services through an online platform, announced late last month that it completed a $50 million Series D funding round. The round was led by US investment firm Revolution Growth as well as existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Qumra Capital, Spark Capital, and Compound.

Revolution Growth’s Patrick Conroy will join Talkspace’s board of directors.

Talkspace was founded in 2012 by Israeli husband-and-wife team Oren and Roni Frank. It has raised a total of $110 million in financing since then.

Talkspace said it will use the new capital to target two new international markets , leverage its machine learning and AI capabilities, and “accelerate the growth of its commercial business, where it partners with employers, health plans, employee assistance programs (EAP) and educational organizations to make therapy available and affordable.”

“Our advanced capabilities in data science enable us to not only open access to therapy, but also identify the attributes of successful therapeutic relationships and apply that knowledge throughout the predictive products we build, to the therapists that use our platform, and in the content we provide,” said Oren Frank, Talkspace co-founder and CEO.

“With all of our groundbreaking, strategic relationships, millions of members will benefit from unprecedented access to our services through managed Behavioral Healthcare. It is a testament to over two years of efforts to build the infrastructure, capabilities and industry-leading, evidence-based quality of care needed to deliver a healthcare solution that can improve accessibility at scale,” said Lynn Hamilton, Talkspace’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Talkspace has also partnered with Optum, a pharmacy benefit manager and care services group that is also a part of the UnitedHealth Group. This will make the app available to at least two million more customers. Through cooperation with other companies such as Aetna, a CVS Health company and Magellan Health, Talkspace will expand its commercial reach to include over five million customers.

“We view the addressable market for Talkspace as an enormous opportunity that is growing in both size and importance,” said Conroy of Revolution Growth. “Talkspace is a rare breed of company that is applying novel technologies to help consumers dramatically improve their quality of life. The progress they’ve made thus far underscores the overwhelming demand for greater and easier access to mental health services.”