Lyra Health, a mental health benefits provider, raised $235 million in a Series F funding round, the company announced Wednesday. The Burlingame-based company will use the money to continue international expansion.
Along with the raise, which brought the company's total funding to more than $910 million, Lyra Health also acquired ICAS World, a wellness services company that operates in more than 155 countries, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will more than double Lyra Health's client base, taking it from 4 million to 10 million. The company also announced that it added Robynne Sisco, co-president and chief financial officer of Workday, to its board.
“Providing high-quality mental health care for diverse employee populations around the world is one of the most critical and challenging issues for employers today," David Ebersman, CEO and founder of the company, said in a statement. This new funding will help Lyra deliver comprehensive and culturally responsive mental health care for organizations and their employees and families."
Founded by Ebersman, the former CFO of Meta, in 2015, Lyra Health connects its users to providers, mental health coaches, digital wellness tools and medication programs using what it calls "intelligent matching technology." The company's capital raise and acquisition come as the demand for health and wellness initiatives in the workplace increases. Data from LinkedIn showed that two-thirds of Gen Z employees and half of Millennial employees are looking for jobs that invest in mental health initiatives, and jobs posts mentioning “well-being" have increased 147% since 2019.
Declining mental health is bad for business, too: According to the World Health Organization, the loss in productivity due to depression and anxiety costs the global economy $1 trillion annually.