Mental Health Care Benefits Provider Lyra Raises $110 Million

By Annie Baker • Aug 26, 2020
  • Lyra Health — a leading provider of mental health care benefits for employers — announced that it has raised $110 million in Series D funding

Lyra Health — a leading provider of mental health care benefits for employers — announced that it has raised $110 million in Series D funding. Addition led the funding round and they were joined by Adams Street Partners and existing investors including Starbucks chairman emeritus and former CEO Howard Schultz, Casdin Capital, Glynn Capital, Greylock, IVP, Meritech Capital Partners, Providence Ventures, and Tenaya Capital. 

This funding enables Lyra to invest more aggressively in innovative and tech-enabled mental health treatments, to partner with more customers, and to expand and diversify its high-quality provider network. And the company also announced the addition of Kerry Chandler to its Board of Directors. 

Chandler is Chief Human Resources Officer at Endeavor, which is a global entertainment, sports, and content company. Previously, she served as a senior executive at Under Armour; Christie’s; the National Basketball Association; ESPN; and ESPN’s parent The Walt Disney Company. And she has also served in human resources leadership roles of increasing responsibility at IBM, Motorola, Exxon, and McDonnell Douglas. 

American workers have been experiencing a surge in mental health challenges as they grapple with historic adversity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty, and racial injustice. And a recent study led by Lyra Health and the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions found that 83% of U.S. employees today are experiencing mental health issues.

Lyra has been growing significantly in 2020. And so far this year, the company has added more than 800,000 new members to the population eligible to receive Lyra benefits, bringing its total member population to more than 1.5 million. Plus Lyra also is on track to surpass a milestone this month by delivering the one-millionth session of care through its exceptional provider network. 

Over the last several months, leading employers in retail, tech, energy, financial services, and the food and agriculture industries including Morgan Stanley, Asurion, and Zoom Video Communications are prioritizing workforce mental health by partnering with Lyra to offer employees immediate access to proven, evidence-based care from thousands of Lyra providers nationwide. And the funding, on top of the Series C round completed earlier this year, positions Lyra to take advantage of the burgeoning market opportunity and urgent need for better mental health solutions.

Lyra Health is also focused on expanding its enhanced teletherapy offering Lyra Blended Care, which pairs video therapy sessions with personalized digital lessons and exercises based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) principles. And Lyra Blended Care provides a scalable tech-enabled solution optimized for better care quality and clinical outcomes. 

KEY QUOTES:

“Lyra has developed the most comprehensive mental health benefits to address the full spectrum of employees’ needs, at a time when direct and immediate access to such care has never been more important. I’m thrilled to join as an independent Board member to help the company fulfill its mission to provide the most effective care to millions.”

— Kerry Chandler

“Whether you’re dealing with a preexisting mental health condition that has intensified or new symptoms that have arisen during the pandemic, these are challenging times for many people. We are proud to support employers that are prioritizing mental health and will use this new funding to help even more organizations support the mental health and well-being of their most important asset — their people.”

— David Ebersman, Lyra Health CEO and co-founder.