Cognito attracts next round financing to launch its all-in-one, affordable mental health service in Ontario and expand partnerships with insurers, businesses and government.
Today Cognito, Canada’s all-in-one virtual mental health care platform, announced $2 million in seed financing from prominent investors including StandUp Ventures, Garage Capital, Graphite Ventures, Spring Impact Capital, and Simplex Ventures. This funding will be used to launch Cognito’s mental health services in Ontario, and expand partnerships with insurers, businesses and government partners seeking to offer mental health support.
Cognito aims to provide Canadians with a single access point for effective, affordable and immediate mental health treatment. Different from other virtual mental health providers, Cognito’s platform combines cognitive behavioural therapy and support with access to medication and an integrated care team. It’s made affordable with an easy-to-cancel monthly subscription that costs less than a single traditional counselling session. Initially, Cognito is focused on the treatment of anxiety, depression, insomnia and ADHD.
“Expanding our services across Canada is not just a milestone for Cognito, it's a leap forward for mental health care accessibility,” says CEO and Co-Founder Armon Arani. “Thanks to our mission-driven investors, we're not just envisioning a future where effective mental health treatment is available in a timely and affordable manner, we're actively building it.”
Following a pre-seed investment round led by Garage Capital in 2021, Cognito launched its bundled mental health services in British Columbia where it immediately attracted hundreds of clients. In 2022, Cognito was chosen by the Island Health Authority as a mental health treatment partner for Vancouver Island’s 800,000 residents. Island Health refers patients to Cognito and fully covers patient costs. With its latest financing, Cognito will begin to expand its mental health services across Canada in 2024.
A recent Statistics Canada survey found that in 2022, there were more than five million people in Canada experiencing significant symptoms of mental illness and not all needs for counselling and psychotherapy services are being met. There are often long wait times for community mental health counselling, and barriers to the affordability and accessibility of these services.
“Medical research has long demonstrated the most effective treatment of anxiety and depression is medication used in combination with cognitive therapy, but with a scarcity of counselors and prohibitive costs, family doctors can often only offer a prescription,” commented Katheleen Eva, Investor, Standup Ventures. "Cognito gives Canadians a holistic and effective mental health treatment option that they can actually afford - meaning more folks can get better faster, reducing the impact on employers, society and our hospital system.”
“Cognito's approach blends human and digital support in a scalable, patient-centric delivery model that can help address the mental health access issues of today,” commented Graham Day, Managing Partner of Spring Impact Capital. “As impact investors, we are excited to work with Cognito on their measurement of outcomes as they expand access to tens of thousands of Canadians who need support."
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