16 Feb UPMC leads $17 million funding round for mental health startup Lantern Clinicians
San Francisco company pledges to work with fledgling company to develop products, programs.
Lantern, a San Francisco-based startup, with 17 employees, is working with UPMC Enterprises, the commercialization arm of the Pittsburgh-based healthcare giant, to further develop the company’s online mental health wellness services and products.
The startup, founded in 2012, recently closed on a $17 million investment led by UPMC Enterprises on February 10. All other previous investors, including Mayfield Fund, SoftTech Venture Capital and Stanford University, joined the round.
UPMC, one of the largest integrated healthcare delivery systems in the country, is the ideal partner, Alejandro Foung, Lantern co-founder and CEO, said in a statement announcing the new funding.
“A large part of UPMC’s appeal, Foung added, is its “focus on disease prevention – a sharp contrast to the fee-for-service model that currently dominates the behavioral health landscape.”
“This is for us about a very long-term bid on how we can use technology to engage consumers and patients in their mental health, said Mark Stabingas, executive vice president at UPMC Enterprises.
“There’s an acute shortage of mental health professionals,” he said. “There are lots of people who could benefit from mental health services.”