UpLift raises $10.7M for insurance-based telemental health, incl. Medicaid and Medicare

Tampa-based telemental health company offering virtual therapy and psychiatry through contracts with commercial insurers, Medicaid and Medicare.

A virtual-first provider that takes commercial and government insurance, including Medicaid and Medicare, can win patients that cash-pay telehealth startups miss.

$10.7M Series A led by Ballast Point Ventures with Kapor Capital, Front Porch Ventures and B Capital; $22M raised in total.

CEO Kyle Talcott, a former executive at Clover Health and Cityblock Health, saw how a fragmented behavioral health system kept patients from care. Many providers are independent practitioners without staff to handle insurance paperwork, and see fewer patients as a result.

UpLift contracts with commercial and government insurers to offer virtual psychotherapy and psychiatry; Talcott estimates 90% of services are therapy and 10% psychiatry. It tracks outcomes with clinical measures and patient-experience questions to surface higher-performing providers. It operates in Washington D.C., Florida, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia, with few competitors accepting Medicare or Medicaid.

On 20 July 2023 UpLift announced the $10.7M Series A to expand into additional states. Talcott declined to say when he foresees a Series B.

About 45% of psychiatrists do not accept any form of insurance.

Demand for mental health services spiked during the pandemic.

Independent practitioners lack staff to handle insurance paperwork.

Few competing telemental health startups accept Medicare or Medicaid.

Taking insurance puts a provider into a less crowded part of a hot market, but it makes revenue depend on payer contracts and a state-by-state rollout.

As of 2023-07-20 UpLift had closed its Series A and was in five jurisdictions, with expansion to more states planned. Patient volume and revenue were not reported.