Startup Big Health raises $39M to universalize access to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety and poor sleep

Big Health Hones Dig­i­tal Men­tal Health Ther­a­py With $39M Series B (Crunch­base):

“Start­up Big Health believes indi­vid­u­als can improve their men­tal health through its tech­nol­o­gy that focus­es on cog­ni­tive behav­ioral ther­a­py ver­sus med­ica­tion or the help of human therapists.

On Thurs­day it raised $39 mil­lion in a Series B financ­ing to advance that objective.

Its two dig­i­tal offer­ings, Day­light, for wor­ry and anx­i­ety, and Sleepio, for poor sleep, are ful­ly auto­mat­ed cog­ni­tive and behav­ioral programs.

“We are tak­ing proven cog­ni­tive behav­ioral ther­a­pies and ful­ly automat­ing them to deliv­er the care scal­ably and con­sis­tent­ly as drugs,” Peter Hames, co-founder and CEO, told Crunch­base News. “Clin­i­cal stud­ies show these kinds of prod­ucts are just as effec­tive as med­ica­tion and people.”

Gilde Health­care led the new round of fund­ing joined by co-lead Morn­ing­side Ven­tures, as well as Sam­sung NEXT and exist­ing investors Kaiser Per­ma­nente Ven­tures and Octo­pus Ven­tures. The new fund­ing gives San Fran­cis­co-based Big Health a total raise of $54.3 mil­lion since the com­pa­ny was found­ed in 2010.

News in Context:

• CVS Health: Cog­ni­tive behav­ioral ther­a­py (CBT) apps may help you more than sleep­ing pills
• Dig­i­tal health start-ups raised a record $3.1 bil­lion in Q1; focus will like­ly evolve from providers to con­sumers and employers
• Pear Ther­a­peu­tics rais­es $50M to devel­op and mar­ket a port­fo­lio of dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics for men­tal health
• FDA clears first CBT-based dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tic to treat sub­stance abuse disorders
• The FDA cre­ates new Dig­i­tal Health unit to reimag­ine reg­u­la­to­ry paths in the age of scal­able, AI-enhanced innovation
• Five rea­sons the future of brain enhance­ment is dig­i­tal, per­va­sive and (hope­ful­ly) bright