Little Otter, a digital mental health platform for children and families, has completed an oversubscribed Series A round in which it raised $22 million.

CRV was the lead investor in Little Otter’s round, which included participation from Torch Capital, Vast Ventures, Hinsdale, Boxgroup, _able, G9 and Springbank Collective.

Carrie Penner Walton, who is the granddaughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, also provided funding for the round along with unnamed strategic angel investors.

The round brings the amount raised to date by San Francisco-based Little Otter to $26.75 million.

Founded in 2020, Littler Otter focuses on the mental health of children 14 and younger, as well as their families.

Families interested in using the virtual, on-demand platform can sign up by filling out an online assessment, which is used to pair them with a clinical lead from its collaborative care team. After discussing care needs with a clinician, a care plan is created for parents and children to meet specified goals over the course of using the platform.

Little Otter clinicians work with parents and children on a variety of mental health needs pertaining to such emotions as aggression, anxiety, attention deficits and sadness. Initial appointments for customers last 30 minutes, with follow-up appointments subsequently increasing to 45 minutes per session.

Little Otter’s services are all self-pay, with each initial appointment costing $90. Different cost packages are available for follow-up sessions.

Little Otter users are able to book same-day appointments and are given 24/7 access to the platform. Mental health checkups for each child and caregiver are provided on a quarterly basis.

Little Otter’s care team consists of parenting specialists, early childhood trained therapists, couples therapists and pediatric psychiatrists. The providers are described by Little Otter as being “best in class,” as only 3% of all applicants are hired – with each given equity in the company.

According to Little Otter, 85% of families that use the platform have achieved clinical improvement in just six sessions. The company also claims that it has registered 45% month-over-month growth, occurring as demand for youth mental health services has been on the rise.

“We were in a pediatric mental health crisis before the pandemic,” Dr. Helen Egger, who is the co-founder as well as the chief medical and scientific officer for Little Otter, said in a press release issued by the company. “Now, the crisis is much worse.”

All of Little Otter’s providers are trained by Egger, who is a child psychologist.

“Parent mental health has a big impact on child mental health, which is why there is a need for our family-centered care model,” Egger added in the release.

Little Otter’s CEO is Egger’s daughter, Rebecca Egger, who is also a company co-founder.

“We created Little Otter to bring mental health and wellness to every family,” the younger Egger said in a press release.

The company plans to use the new funding towards its growth and scale goals, as it hopes to go nationwide by 2023.

Little Otter is currently available in California, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina.

“Simply training more providers cannot address the children’s mental health crisis, and that’s why we have built a one-of-a-kind model and team with expertise from child mental health and the best minds in product, engineering, and machine learning to create a platform and build a brand that grows with families over time,” the younger Egger added.