Headway raises $70M as it looks toward nationwide therapist network expansion

Mental health platform Headway today announced it has raised $70 million in a Series B funding round. Andreessen Horowitz led the round with participation from Thrive, GV and Accel.

Coming in six months after its $26 million Series A round, Headway now boasts $103 million in total funding and a new valuation of $750 million.

WHAT THEY DO

Headway operates a platform connecting patients to in-network therapists and private practice therapists to insurance companies.

The startup’s free tool allows users to punch in their current health plan and search a network of therapists for a match. On the therapist side, it connects them to an insurance panel and then helps to handle booking, billing and other back-end tasks.

It hopes that by creating a network of therapists who accept insurance, it can make mental healthcare more accessible and affordable.

Headway currently works in New York, New Jersey, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Virginia, Washington, Illinois and Colorado.

WHAT IT’S FOR

With the new capital, Headway will grow its team to more than 300 people as it works toward scaling to full national coverage, according to the announcement.

Since its start in 2019, the company has allowed more than 3,000 therapists to begin accepting insurance, connected more than 2,000 patients to an in-network therapist and grown its team to 75 employees.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increased demand for mental health services. In turn, funding in the space increased by 2.9x compared with funding in 2019, according to Rock Health’s 2020 funding report.

Startups that have received financial backing in recent months include Meru Health, a digital mental platform for employees; Mantra Health, a virtual mental healthcare service for higher education institutions; and Happify Health, a platform for mental health and disease management programs.

ON THE RECORD

“We are breaking the vicious cycle and building a new mental healthcare system that will render inaccessibility an anachronism,” Andrew Adams, the cofounder and CEO of Headway, said in a statement.

“We are proud of what we have built in just over a year, and humbled by the grateful responses we have received from patients, therapists and insurance companies. We have created a better way for accessing mental healthcare and are working tirelessly to bring quality care to every American that needs it. State by state, we are committed to offering our solution to help solve the mental health affordability crisis. We’re just getting started.”