Quartet Health, a company that wants to close the gap between physical and mental healthcare, has raised a $40 million Series B led by GV (formerly Google Ventures). Existing investors Oak HC/FT Partners, F-Prime Capital Partners, and Polaris Partners also returned for the round.
This marks the first time that GV has invested in a mental health startup. Founded in 2014, Quartet’s platform make it easier for primary care doctors and mental healthcare professionals, like therapists, to work together. Many psychological conditions have physical symptoms (and vice versa), but they can be difficult to identify if a patient’s providers don’t communicate.
Quartet’s data scientists create algorithms that help doctors figure out if a patient is at risk for another health issue. Then they get a referral to a provider in Quartet’s network or its online cognitive behavioral therapy and consultation tools. If the patient receives a new diagnosis, his or her care providers can then coordinate all the different facets of treatment, including tests, consultations, and prescriptions, through the platform.
“I’ve seen loved ones struggle through mental and behavioral health conditions and observed firsthand that finding good care was way harder than it needed to be,” says founder and CEO Arun Gupta, who was previously an advisor at Palantir Technologies, in an email.
“The healthcare industry can do a better job for patients, families, and communities by employing a model which better leverages the primary care setting, data, and modern technology to give patients much better options and care.”
The New York-based company will use its capital to enter six new markets in the United States over the next year, including ones in Massachusetts, the Midwest and the West Coast.
Gupta says the main challenge Quartet faces as its grows is the medical industry’s status quo, or “the deeply ingrained silo’ing of behavioral and physical health.” He is encouraged by the amount of tech startups that also focus on different aspects of mental health care, including Empower, which develops online therapy tools, and Sleepio, that Quartet can partner with.
“We’ve found traction by creating very a comprehensive solution at the point of care and around the patient that best leverages these different care modalities,” he says. “That’s something the market is really asking for.”
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