Handspring, a mental health provider specializing in services for youth, young adults, and their families through high-quality virtual therapy, has announced a $12 million Series A round. The funding round was led by Cobalt Ventures, with participation from NextView Ventures, nvp capital, 25madison, Arkitekt Ventures, VamosVentures, Hyde Park Angels (HPA), Cornucopian Capital, and others. Two health plans also joined the round, emphasizing strong payer alignment with Handspring’s clinically rigorous and cost-effective model of care.
What Handspring does: Handspring is redefining youth mental health by building a workforce of fully employed and expertly trained therapists, addressing a national shortage of qualified pediatric providers. And unlike platforms that depend on gig-based networks with minimal oversight, Handspring invests in developing its clinicians through structured onboarding, weekly individual and group consultations, and ongoing training in evidence-based care.
The company’s model includes skills-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), exposure therapy, parent coaching, and a Complex Care program designed to support high-risk youth who are often underserved, turned away from traditional outpatient services, and often unnecessarily referred to higher levels of care such as emergency departments (ED) or intensive outpatient programs (IOP).
Momentum: Handspring’s approach is working:
— 96% of families report improvement in the daily life of their family upon discharge.
— 84% of patients in treatment for anxiety and 79% of patients in treatment for depression saw clinical improvement, as measured by validated clinical scales at the completion of their care.
How the funding will be used: The investment will be used to deepen clinical programs for complex patient populations, expand value-based care partnerships, and enhance the company’s proprietary technology platform, including further development of AI tools focused on automating operations and improving outcomes of care.
New board members: The company also announced that Dipa Mehta of Valeo Ventures and Rob Go of NextView Ventures have joined its Board of Directors, bringing deep expertise in digital health and early-stage growth.
KEY QUOTES:
“While we’ve made strides in expanding access to care, we’ve simultaneously allowed quality standards to erode. Patients deserve more than just an available therapist – they deserve evidence-based treatment, genuine therapeutic relationships, and measurable progress toward recovery. This funding is so important because it helps us continue to build a system that truly cares about the long-term well-being of every child and family we serve.”
Sahil Choudhry, CEO and co-founder of Handspring
“Handspring is meeting the needs of children, teens, and young adults with complex challenges that many providers can’t or won’t treat. And it doesn’t stop there — we take a whole family approach by working with parents so they can support their children outside of therapy sessions.”
Kwasi Kyei, President and co-founder
