LGBTQIA+ digital health startup FOLX Health will add mental and behavioral health services following a $30 million Series B funding round.
The Boston-based startup announced the funding round on Wednesday. The funding will also support the company’s newly launched business-to-business (B2B) service and other virtual care offerings.
The behavioral health services will include topic-focused support groups that will meet multiple times a week, one-on-one consultations and other community features.
Digital health-focused venture capital fund 7wireVentures led the round and was joined by new investor Foresite Capital and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Define Ventures and Polaris Partner. Lee Shapiro, managing partner of 7wireVentures and former chief financial officer of Livongo Health , will join FOLX Health’s board of directors, the release states.
“Now more than ever, there is a clear need to expand access to inclusive health services for the millions of Americans who identify as LGBTQIA+,” Shapiro said in the release. “By combining a network of clinicians highly attuned to the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community with convenient access to affirming content and peer connections, FOLX Health has established a new standard of queer and trans care for its members.”
Launched in December 2020, FOLX Health offers virtual health care services that include virtual primary care, hormone replacement therapy, PrEP, care navigation, health content and a virtual community. It also offers a network of queer and trans-specialized care providers, the release states.
Addressing the unique needs of people who identify as LGBTQIA+ has been a focus for some major behavioral health operators. For example, virtual provider Talkspace created a LGBTQIA+ offering. LGBTQIA+ people are twice as likely to experience a mental health condition and more than twice as likely to report hopelessness and suicidality.
“It is our responsibility to provide offerings that enable folks to receive the care they need and deserve,” Liana Douillet Guzmán, CEO of FOLX Health, said in the release.
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