Akili Interactive, the maker of the FDA De Novo-authorized digital therapeutic EndeavorRx, has scored $110 million in Series D funding. The company also raked in an additional $50 million in debt financing, bringing the total financing round to $160 million.

Neuberger Berman Funds led the equity raise with participation from Polaris Partners, Mirae Assets, Shionogi & Co., New Leaf Venture Partners, QUAD Investment Management, Ladera Venture Partners, Temasek, Baillie Gifford, JAZZ Venture Partners, Evidity Health Capital, Omidyar Technology Ventures, Fearless Ventures, Amgen Ventures, M Ventures and individual investors.

This new raise brings the company's total equity funding to $230 million.

WHAT IT DOES

Akili Interactive created a prescription digital therapeutic video game to help children 8 to 12 with ADHD "reprogram" their brains.

Last year the company landed an FDA De Novo for EndeavorRx, making it the first game-based therapeutic to get the FDA green light. As part of the therapy, children navigate an alien avatar in the game and respond to on-screen prompts. Akili designed the app to keep track of the patient's movements in order to monitor their behavior and adapt to the player.

While the company's first product is for ADHD, it said in the future it plans to expand its prescription digital therapeutics to treat other chronic and acute cognitive disorders.

WHAT IT'S FOR

The company is looking to use the new funds to build out its product line and expand its scope of care. Specifically, the cash will help fuel research in treating other disorders.

“Our $160M financing announced today is another significant step in delivering on Akili’s mission to reinvent medicine,” Santosh Shanbhag, chief financial officer at Akili, said in a statement.

“This is the latest milestone in what has been a revolutionary journey for Akili. It will enable us to bring EndeavorRx to as many appropriate patients as possible, advance our core technology, expand our global footprint, and fund research across a wide range of cognitive impairments.”

THE LARGER TREND

Akili's eyes have been set on researching conditions beyond ADHD for some time. In 2019 the company conducted a study on major depressive disorder. Researchers found that using one of Akili's video-game therapies reduced the cognitive impairments in adults living with major depressive disorder.

More recently the company announced that it would be testing its video game ADHD treatment out as a potential treatment for cognitive impairments in COVID-19 survivors. The research, which will be done in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine, New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is set to evaluate the tool for helping to improve cognitive functioning in COVID-19 survivors who have exhibited a deficit in cognition.

Akili isn't the only company looking to use video games to treat ADHD. Braingaze, a company out of Barcelona, Spain, launched its ADHD video-game-like therapy in June of 2020. A month later, the company announced a partnership with China's insuretch company Ping An Group and eye-tracking startup 7invensun to work on a diagnostic for kids with the condition.

ON THE RECORD

“Akili set the bar high when we set out to challenge the status quo of medicine in 2011. Since then, we’ve developed a completely new treatment category that has the potential to help hundreds of millions of people living with cognitive impairments,” Eddie Martucci, Akili’s cofounder and CEO, said in a statement.

“This latest round of funding enables us to take another meaningful step towards delivering on this promise to patients, and fully realize the potential of digital treatments. Beyond treating disease, digital therapeutics of the future will be data-rich, adapt to the unique needs and preferences of each user, deliver amazing experiences, and even integrate into our everyday lives. We look forward to continuing to make the future of medicine a reality for patients.”