Talkspace, the global leader in online therapy, announced today it has raised $15 million in Series B funding in a round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors, Spark Capital, Soft Bank, Metamorphic Ventures and TheTime. Additionally, the company is welcoming Dr. Linda Sacco as its Vice President of Behavioral Health Service, and Jeff Crowe, Managing Partner at Norwest Venture Partners, to Talkspace's Board of Directors.
Talkspace's Unlimited Messaging Therapy program, which connects people with a licensed therapist on the web or via mobile apps for a fraction of the price of traditional therapy, has provided 300,000 people with a more affordable, accessible way of getting mental health care. In the past year, Talkspace tripled its user base, and the company has expanded its network of licensed therapists to almost 1,000 specialists to meet the high demand of new users.
"We've eliminated a lot of the barriers that prevent people from getting help in the first place by delivering therapy via messaging -- and, the biggest has been reducing the stigma," said Roni Frank, co-founder and Head of Clinical Services Talkspace. "However, as our user base grew, we saw new demand for more ways to communicate with therapists. We are excited to see people gravitate toward this modality of receiving therapy, and the new injection of funds will allow us to continue innovating our technology while bringing mental health care to millions of people each year."
The mental health industry is on a transformative evolution as technological innovations are introducing new ways to delivery and receive therapy. Talkspace originally gained popularity by allowing patients and therapists to asynchronously text message with one another. Earlier this year, the company launched new features like the ability to audio and video messages to enable users to have closer relationships with their therapists.
Talkspace's direct-to-consumer approach for delivering mental health care aims to address the 60 to 70 percent of people who could benefit from therapy, but can't afford it or fit it into their lifestyles.
"Talkspace has successfully brought therapy into the modern age while making it more accessible and affordable than ever before," said Jeff Crowe, Managing Partner at Norwest Venture Partners. "We are pleased to join a team of incredibly passionate leaders, builders and problem solvers, to usher in a new era in mental health care."
Talkspace is available on the web at www.talkspace.com or through its mobile apps for the iOS and Google Play Stores. Talkspace's Press Kit is accessible on Dropbox.
About Talkspace
Talkspace connects people with licensed therapists through its web and mobile apps. As the leading online therapy company, Talkspace revolutionized mental health care access by bringing the dialogue between therapists and their clients into the digital age. Founded with a mission to eliminate the stigmas associated with mental illness and make therapy more available to millions of people, Talkspace's flagship product, Unlimited Messaging Therapy™, has already become the preferred method of treatment for over 300,000 people. For more information, please visit http://www.talkspace.com.
About Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners (www.nvp.com) is a global venture capital and growth equity investment firm that manages more than $6 billion in capital. The firm targets early to late stage venture and growth equity investments across a wide range of sectors including technology, information services, business services, financial services, consumer products/services and healthcare. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Norwest has offices in San Francisco and New York, and subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. The firm has funded more than 575 companies since inception. For more information, please visithttp://www.nvp.com/.
