Spring Health Worth $2.5 Billion After Latest Funding Round
The digital mental health company counts giants like Microsoft, The Hershey Company, JB Hunt, Bumble and Fujifilm among its clients.
Spring Health has raised $71 million in new funding, bringing the digital mental health company’s total valuation to an incredible $2.5 billion.
The funding comes as the mental wellness platform approaches its seventh anniversary and as the company continues its mission of revolutionizing mental health care for employers and their staff.
The digital mental health company aims to help people get mental health care more quickly and efficiently. Spring Health reports it has helped over 5 million access the care needed to heal.
Spring Health, which works with employers to modernize their behavioral health benefits, boasts that it serves as a “single front door” to care ranging from digital exercises, EAP services, coaching, therapy or medication. The mental health company uses proprietary assessment and machine-learning technology to better understand the complete picture of a person (and the conditions they may be experiencing). Spring Health then matches the individual to a care plan that is tailored to their specific needs.
In a statement announcing the funding, Spring Health said it attributes its growth in part to its collaborations with big-name companies such as Microsoft, The Hershey Company, JB Hunt, Bumble and Fujifilm.
“We have seen so much demand from employers and health plans for Spring Health because the value proposition has become clearer than ever,” the company wrote on its blog. “With last year’s JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Open study demonstrating that the Spring approach creates superior financial and clinical outcomes, the return on investment for our customers is indisputable.”
The digital mental health company says it has doubled its headcount to support its growth.
Spring Health is also marking its fresh funding with revamped branding on its homepage, including an updated symbol and wordmark.
“This brand refresh demonstrates our compassion, purpose, and pragmatism,” said Spring Health CEO and co-founder April Koh. “We are leading the way in eliminating barriers to mental health, and people are taking notice all over the world – our new design is ready for that spotlight.”
The company, co-founded by Koh, a Yale alum, was launched after a troubling yet eye-opening experience in college. Koh witnessed her roommate suffer from an eating disorder, and while the roommate was taking antidepressants, it was weeks before they could receive treatment.
In an effort to help her roommate, Koh landed on a peer-reviewed research paper by Adam Chekroud that explained the benefits of machine learning and how it can help match patients to personalized care plans.
Koh emailed Chekroud, another Yale grad, to meet, and the two partnered with another Yale student to form the digital mental health company.
The customized approach to mental health care won an award from InnovateHealth Yale, with the students receiving a $25,000 prize, which was the seed capital needed to further the platform.
What distinguishes Spring Health from other digital health companies is its precision, Koh told the Yale School of Public Health in an interview last year. Unlike other companies, Spring Health connects individuals in need with the proper care right from the start.
In addition to Spring Health’s groundbreaking work in the mental health arena, Koh made history in 2021 as the youngest female to run a unicorn-level company.
Spring Health recently appointed Dr. Mill Brown as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Brown has been a member of the mental health company since 2020, serving as senior vice president of medical affairs.
“We’re really trying to transform how mental health care is delivered but make sure we do it in a clinically safe and smart way,” Dr. Brown told Fierce Healthcare, speaking about his new role. “So having that single person whose only job is really around clinical quality and truly around making sure everything is safe and appropriate to care delivery helps to really balance out all those other pressures that a lot of startup companies have as they achieve scale.”
Spring Health’s funding comes as mental health remains top of mind.
According to the CDC, depression can increase the risk for numerous physical health issues, particularly long-lasting ailments such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
As the CDC also points out, mental illnesses are among the most common health conditions in the U.S., with the agency reporting that over 50% of people will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime.
The numbers are revealing: one in every five Americans will experience a mental illness in any given year, and one in every five children will suffer from a seriously debilitating mental illness either now or at some point in their lives.
