NEW YORK — Real, a mental health care company building a new platform based therapy model, has closed an oversubscribed round of $37 million Series B funding round. The round was led by Owl Ventures, the world’s largest venture capital firm dedicated to transformative education companies, Owl Ventures is joined by former Cityblock CEO and Chief Health Officer Iyah Romm and Dr. Slyvia Romm and investors from previous rounds including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Female Founders Fund, Forerunner Ventures, and BBG Ventures. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is also an investor in the company.
Real is an affordable app-based therapy solution that offers programs and resources for creating a mental health care routine. The company has been able to prove how their therapist-designed, self-guided approach to care is an effective and scalable model that can transform the industry, including clinical insights that demonstrate a clinically significant reduction of depression and anxiety across a range of demographics. By leveraging their team of culturally-rich therapists for each Pathway, they work to equalize the space for a wide demographic of members, noting the perspectives of communities like LGBTQIA+, immigrants, people of color and more. Real’s investors join the innovative fast-growing company on their mission to provide proven resources and tools, so everyone can make practicing a mental wellness routine a part of their day. The funding round will help the company continue its goal of changing the way we think about and engage with mental health care by:
- Providing a suite of on-demand mental health tools surpassing the scale of the 1:1 therapy system
- Ensuring high-quality mental health care is accessible at a lower price point
- Building culturally competent care that speaks to underrepresented communities left out of the traditional mental health care system
- Expanding their health research efforts to continue giving clinically-effective results through a people-first health care system
“The last few years have put a spotlight on mental health and Real’s mission is to make mental wellness an essential part of well-being,” says Ariela Safira, CEO and Founder of Real. “In order to do this, Real is transforming mental wellness into a continuous, everyday experience integrated into people’s day-to-day lives. Real is excited to partner with Owl Ventures, a leader in scaling digital solutions for the education sector, to apply these learnings to transforming mental health care.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Ariela and the entire Real team to help bring true scale and innovation to a broken mental health care system,” says Tory Patterson, Managing Director of Owl Ventures. “Ariela’s vision for a new, effective, and accessible mental health care system is clearly the future for delivering scaled mental health services to a population in desperate need of high quality solutions.”
Backed by celebrity investors like Gwyneth Paltrow, Megan Rapinoe, and Eric Kendricks, Real has proven to be a leader in on-demand mental health care by making it readily available for everyone across a variety of themes through the platform’s series of Pathways, including body image, depression, relationship, anxiety, career, stress, and more. Real allows its members to have unlimited access to their programming for just $13 per month, which is considerably more affordable and well below the average $300 per therapy session cost. In just the last year, Real has laid the groundwork needed to project the company to become a top leader in mental health care platforms and set up the company for long-term growth and success, while continuing to scale access to mental health care for millions of Americans.
“As an early believer in Ariela and Real’s success, we’re proud to expand our investment in Real’s Series B fundraise,” says Nicole Quinn, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “As a board member for the last year, I can say Real is one of the few companies in this space building their foundation on clinical research and using that to inform building a truly innovative care model. Real has the right team in place to deliver on their promise of reimagining the mental health care system and I’m excited to see Real continue to scale and positively impact the mental health of their members.”
Coming off of this $37 million funding round, which marks $53 million in total funding, Real will invest further in health research to build the most effective and innovative care model that speaks to modern consumers.
