Akili Interactive Labs raises $160M in equity and debt to transform cognitive healthcare via prescription videogame treatments

Akili rais­es $110m to build its dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics pipeline (phar­mafo­rum):

Endeav­or­Rx became the first and so far only approved pre­scrip­tion video game treat­ment in the US when it was cleared by the FDA last year to treat atten­tion-deficit hyper­ac­tiv­i­ty dis­or­der (ADHD), and has also been giv­en a green light in Europe.

It is also being test­ed for oth­er indi­ca­tions includ­ing fuzzy think­ing in COVID-19 sur­vivors, a con­di­tion some­times known as ‘brain fog’.

The new fund­ing, which is accom­pa­nied by a $50 mil­lion loan facil­i­ty, is ear­marked for the con­tin­ued roll­out of the app as well as Akili’s pipeline of pre­scrip­tion dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics for “a range of chron­ic and acute cog­ni­tive dis­or­ders,” said the Boston-based company.

The Series D was led by Neu­berg­er Berman Funds and includ­ed a string of oth­er investors, includ­ing ven­ture cap­i­tal arms of drug­mak­ers like Shiono­gi, Amgen and Mer­ck KGaA … Oth­er pro­grammes in the R&D phase are tar­get­ing cog­ni­tive dys­func­tion in depres­sion and mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis, autism spec­trum dis­or­der, a cog­ni­tive assess­ment tool and a gam­ing app that com­bines cog­ni­tive and phys­i­cal training.

The Announcement:

Akili Secures $160 Mil­lion in Financ­ing; Poised to Deliv­er on the Promise of Dig­i­tal Ther­a­peu­tics (press release):

… This fund­ing will sup­port a go-to mar­ket approach that brings Endeav­or­Rx to fam­i­lies and health­care pro­fes­sion­als at scale and expand Akili’s glob­al foot­print with­in atten­tion-deficit/hy­per­ac­tiv­i­ty dis­or­der (ADHD) and beyond. The financ­ing will also enable Akili to build on the suc­cess of its patent­ed tech­nol­o­gy plat­form, which has shown pos­i­tive results in clin­i­cal tri­als across a num­ber of indi­ca­tions, and fur­ther advance its pipeline of pre­scrip­tion dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics (PDTs) tar­get­ing a range of chron­ic and acute cog­ni­tive dis­or­ders … The financ­ing round brings the Company’s total equi­ty fund­ing to date to $230M and fur­ther posi­tions Akili to con­tin­ue lead­ing the indus­try in deliv­er­ing on the promise of bring­ing dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics to patients. In con­junc­tion with the Series D financ­ing, Akili also closed a cred­it facil­i­ty for up to $50M with Sil­i­con Val­ley Bank that pro­vides for an opti­mal cap­i­tal structure.

News in Context:

• FDA clears first videogame to be pre­scribed to kids with ADHD: Endeav­or­Rx by Akili Inter­ac­tive Labs
• Rein­vent­ing Brain Med­i­cine, Phar­ma adopts Dig­i­tal Ther­a­peu­tics: Evi­dence-based videogames, smart­phone apps, and sensors
• Can brain train­ing work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
• What are cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties and how to boost them?