Big Health, a digital therapeutics company dedicated to helping millions back to good mental health, today announced that it has raised $75 million in a Series C funding round, led by new investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Gilde Healthcare, ArrowMark Partners, Octopus Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures (KPV), and Morningside Ventures. Having pioneered and scaled the industry-leading reimbursement model for digital therapeutics via the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), the company will now use its Series C funding to further accelerate commercial growth and product strategy, and plans to launch six new digital therapeutics by 2024.
As the prevalence of mental health conditions continues to rise, mental health providers cannot meet the scale of demand through in-person or teletherapy alone. As a result, the only available treatment option for most people is mental health medications. In fact, 82% of patients being treated for mental health receive medication. These medications are often associated with moderately severe side effects and/or adverse events, and minimal long-term benefits for many patients. In fact, hypnotics and benzodiazepines, commonly prescribed medications for sleep and anxiety disorders, have black box warnings, the FDA’s strongest warning, due to their potential safety risks.
Through robust clinical evaluation, Sleepio and Daylight – Big Health’s first two digital therapeutics for insomnia and anxiety respectively – are proven to provide safe and effective non-drug alternatives for the most common mental health conditions, without requiring a prescription or intervention from coaches or clinicians. To ease adoption for payers and patients alike, Big Health pioneered the ability to bill through the PBM, enabling employers and health plans to add Big Health to their formulary and pay for their use via a drug claim, which is the same way they pay for medications.
With over 10 million covered lives globally, 13 randomized controlled trials evaluating its approach, and more than 28,000 participants across all evidence studies, Big Health continues to play a leading role in the global adoption of digital therapeutics. In October 2021, the company announced an expanded relationship with the Scottish Government to provide all Scottish adults access to Sleepio and Daylight through their NHS services, making Scotland the first country in the world to make digital therapeutics for anxiety and insomnia available nationally. The company has partnered with CVS Health since 2019 to simplify reimbursement for digital therapeutics.
About Big Health
Big Health’s mission is to help millions back to good mental health by providing safe and effective non-drug alternatives for the most common mental health conditions including insomnia and anxiety. Designed by leading clinical experts, Big Health’s digital therapeutics expand access to gold standard care, including behavioral medicine, and are backed by industry-leading research and randomized controlled trials. By seamlessly integrating across the care pathway, from member engagement to billing via pharmacy benefit managers, Big Health simplifies adoption for both payers and patients, providing an inclusive, scalable, and affordable approach without serious side effects. For more information, please visit www.bighealth.com or follow Big Health on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About Gilde Healthcare
Gilde Healthcare is a specialized healthcare investor with two fund strategies: Venture&Growth and Private Equity. The firm operates out of offices in Utrecht (The Netherlands), Frankfurt (Germany) and Cambridge (United States). Gilde Healthcare Venture&Growth invests in fast growing, innovative companies active in (bio)pharmaceuticals, healthtech and medtech that are based in Europe and North America. For more information, please visit: www.gildehealthcare.com.
