Hopscotch Lands $8M in Seed Funding, Network Partnerships with Optum, Aetna, and Cigna
Summary
The New York City-based company also announced that its secured partnerships with the major payers Optum, Aetna, and Cigna, expanding its goal of bringing more in-network mental health care to the market.Hopscotch serves both patients and youth mental health providers by making evidence-based care more accessible and engaging.For patients and families, it seeks to simplify and speed-up access to behavioral health services for children, teens and their families. For mental health professionals, it provides advanced administrative support, content and interactive tools that address common behavioral health conditions.Hopscotch is supporting providers with the infrastructure to enable them to deliver quality care so they can make sessions as interactive as possible, allowing them to focus on delivering unprecedented care to children and families, Hopscotch Co-Founder and CEO Marla Beyer said in a news release. New York Ventures, Remarkable Ventures, Watershed VC, Cold Start, and executives from other behavioral health organizations also participated.Hopscotch is changing the way clinicians and families navigate the pediatric health care system, Ellie Wheeler, partner at Greycroft, said in the release. The Greycroft team is excited to work with Hopscotch as it changes the game for providers and allows them to help more families than ever before.Greycroft has also invested in behavioral health startups Octave and Boulder Care.Hopscotch said it aims to make it easier for youth mental health providers to work with payers. It gives providers professional development and support resources.In addition to the partnerships with Optum, Aetna and Cigna, it also works with UnitedHealthcare and several Blue Cross Blue Shield companies.Some of the BCBS entities include Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield and Anthem Inc.Hopscotch is available in Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas, according to its website.Improving the worsening mental health of American youth is a vital focus of investors and policymakers alike.Other digital youth mental health providers have seen major funding rounds such as Brightline landing a $105 million funding round earlier in the year and the private equity firm Thurston Group acquiring two youth mental health practices in a month.The much-touted Bipartisan Safer Communities Act allocated billions for youth mental health and other school-based health care services.