Deerfield-backed Happify Health Targets Mental, Physical Health With $73M Raise

New York-based Happify Health, a software-enabled health care platform to improve mental and physical health, brought in $73 million in capital through Series D and related financing to focus on digital therapeutics and patient care delivery.

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The investments, which the company wouldn’t elaborate on, were led by Deerfield Management and included participation from investors including Omega Capital Partners and ION Crossover Fund. In total, Happify has raised $123 million since its inception in 2012, according to Ofer Leidner, co-founder and president of Happify Health.

Leidner and Tomer Ben-Kiki, CEO, started the company to offer an evidence-based platform that delivers scientifically validated programs to positively impact behavior. Users are able to manage chronic conditions via telehealth, access to therapeutics, and Anna, Happify Health’s software-based coach designed to support and engage individuals for several chronic conditions, most notably mental health.

“We focus on a patient-centric journey, which enables us to deliver care along that journey, as well as in therapeutic areas,” Leidner told Crunchbase News. “Our unique approach takes on foundational core principles of mental health and behavioral health, but is also looking at interventions and their power due to high comorbidity. We are also connecting multiple channels, including employers, payers, providers and pharma.”

Happify Health’s two care programs, digital therapeutics and care delivery, support more than 10 chronic conditions and bring together enterprises, health plans, health systems, pharmaceutical manufacturers and individuals.

Currently, Happify Health’s platform covers more than 20 million lives with more than 5 million individuals having received care through the platform. It is working with five pharmaceutical partners, as well as four national payors to help support their members’ mental health and chronic illness needs, Leidner said.

The new funding will be used to grow both of those programs, technology and product development, explore global business development opportunities, and drive relationships with pharmaceutical companies. In addition, the company will expand its team of scientists, researchers and digital health care experts, as well as round out its leadership.

Although the company does not disclose financial information, Leidner said Happify Health is scaling in a meaningful way and expects to add additional large-scale contracts early in 2021, especially with pharmaceutical companies.

Meanwhile, Leslie Henshaw, a partner in the health care services group at Deerfield, referred to Happify Health as “one of those investments that we love.” She sees Happify Health taking advantage of an inflection point of the adoption of digital health, driven by the global pandemic.

“We love the opportunity to watch a management team execute on what they’ve promised, grow into their vision and execute on their roadmap,” Henshaw said in an interview. “The climate is right, and their story resonates. Happify quite deliberately generates good, objective data from randomized clinical trials to support its value proposition. This is while some loosely defined peer groups are using anecdotal data. They are also accommodating go-to-market channels, recognizing the value each channel could bring.”

Screenshot courtesy of Happify.
Illustration: Dom Guzman