Seven Starling, a virtual women’s behavioral health company, announced Tuesday that it raised $10.9 million in Series A funding, which it will use to help more women access its services.
Washington, D.C.-based Seven Starling is initially focused on maternal mental health (though it plans to expand to other phases of life down the line). Women are usually referred to the company by their OBGYN and then are paired up with a therapist who specializes in perinatal mental health. Patients also get access to group therapy, medication management services, a patient advocate and in-app content and exercises. The company is in network with most major commercial plans, including UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Cigna.
The Series A funding round was led by RH Capital and included participation from Pear VC, Expa, Magnify Ventures, Emerson Collective, Inflect Health, Zeal Capital Partners, Ulu Ventures, Fiore Ventures, the March of Dimes, Rogue Venture Partners, Graham & Walker and Wisdom Ventures. In total, Seven Starling has raised $14.3 million.
What’s significant about this financing is that most of Seven Starling’s investors are female and the company has an all-female board, said Tina Beilinson Keshani, co-founder and CEO of Seven Starling. This comes at a time when the venture capital space is male-dominated.
Seven Starling is addressing an unmet need, according to RH Capital.
“We are excited by the comprehensive and scalable offerings, including group therapy to expand access,” said Alice Zheng, MD, principal at RH Capital, in a statement. “As a recent mom of two myself, I have been shocked by the lack of perinatal mental health support available relative to need and am thankful to see Seven Starling filling that gap.”
With the financing, Seven Starling is focused on expanding to more patients. While it currently works with most major commercial plans, it is preparing to start accepting Medicaid. It will also expand to 10 to 15 more states. It currently operates in Maryland, Virginia, Texas, New York and Washington D.C. In addition, the funding will help Seven Starling build out its engineering team and technology, Beilinson Keshani said.
Currently, about one in five women battle a mental health or substance use disorder during the perinatal period. Yet only 20% of women are screened for mental health issues during this time, according to Beilinson Keshani, who has experienced her own mental health challenges.
“I’m a mom myself,” she said in an interview. “I’m also newly postpartum. I’ve gone through the ups and downs of the motherhood journey with pregnancy, miscarriage, postpartum and I’m also grateful to have Seven Starling as a resource for myself.”
There is some improvement in the women’s mental health space, Beilinson Keshani noted. The Biden-Harris Administration recently announced $27.5 million in funding for women’s behavioral health. Seven Starling is also part of a federal task force that formed last year to improve maternal mental health in the U.S.
Ultimately, Beilinson Keshani’s mission with Seven Starling is two-fold.
“Number one, it’s to drive access to women’s behavioral health services and enable any woman that is struggling to get the care that she deserves. And second is to reduce the stigma of getting and seeking help,” she said.
Other women’s mental health companies include Mavida Health and LunaJoy.
Photo credit: Knape, Getty Images
