This morning digital mental health-focused startup Talkspace announced a $50 million Series D funding round. The latest investment was led by Revolution Growth with participation from existing backers Northwest Venture Partners, Qumra Capital, Spark Capital and Compound Ventures also participat.

As a result of the new funding, Revolution Growth’s Patrick Controy will be joining Talkspace’s board of directors. This influx of cash brings the company’s total funding to $110 million. 

WHAT THEY DO

Talkspace is a digital platform that connects patients seeking mental health services to providers. Based on a client’s needs, the platform matches them to a therapist. Users can then access clinicians through a telemedicine service and schedule times to talk. The company is able to provide a licensed mental health professional’s services to adults and, more recently, teens. 

The service is currently provided to employees that have a relationship with Aetna, New Directions Behavioral Health and Magellan Health, according to a press statement. 

Talkspace pitches its services as an affordable and easy-to-access alternative to standard of care. 

“It is kind of easy [with Talkspace] to pop in and chat with a therapist to see how you are doing, to see if you need help," Michael Phelps, a retired Olympic Swimmer, who is also a Talkspace representative, said during the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), in November. "[A]nd for me being on the road a lot … I have to make sure I’m taking care of myself. So for me it is easy to pop on my phone and talk to my therapist on my phone.”

WHAT IT’S FOR

The new funding will be put towards expanding Talkspace’s services and accelerating the startup’s commercial business. In a press statement, the company noted that it plans to expand into international markets and build out new artificial intelligence capabilities. 

MARKET SNAPSHOT 

Mental health tools are a hot field in digital health. In fact, in a recent Nature Digital Medicine study, researchers found 1,435 mental health apps available in the app stores. Those apps vary from meditation and mindfulness platforms to telehealth platforms with a clinician on the other end. 

Basis, a consumer mental health counseling app, and AbleTo, a direct-to-consumer mental health app, are a few examples of other platforms that let customers connect with mental health counselors. 

ON THE RECORD

"We view the addressable market for Talkspace as an enormous opportunity that is growing in both size and importance," Controy said in a statement. "Talkspace is a rare breed of company that is applying novel technologies to help consumers dramatically improve their quality of life. The progress they've made thus far underscores the overwhelming demand for greater and easier access to mental health services. Affordable, convenient, and high quality care is a critical need for tens of millions of Americans and our partnership will help ensure that treatment can be available at the click of a button."