By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH

SonderMind closes a $150M Series C funding round co-led by Drive Capital and Premji Invest, and we get CEO Mark Frank’s take on what sets THIS digital mental health startup apart from a pack of very well-funded competitors. SonderMind has its own behavioral health therapists, built its own tech stack, delivers care virtually AND in-person, is covered by some of the biggest health plans in the country — Aetna, Anthem, Bright Health, Cigna, Kaiser, Optum, and United Healthcare. (They can also namedrop health-tech-infamous Board member, Jonathan Bush, in an interview, but that’s beside the point!)

What’s most remarkable – and what Mark says most impressed investors this time around – is not only the health of SonderMind’s business model, but also its balance sheet. This raise marks the bulk of the total $183M the startup has raised to-date, and Mark reveals that they’ve only deployed about half of the $27M Series B funding they received in April 2020 in a round led by General Catalyst. How will such a “capital efficient” business begin to deploy these new funds? We hear Mark’s plans for nationwide expansion and improvements to that tech stack, particularly when it comes to better matching therapists and patients based on expertise and need, and more appropriately measuring process and outcomes. Two areas ripe for more tech integration as the mental health provider tackles what Mark calls THE defining health issue of our generation.