The well-funded pediatric virtual behavioral health startup Brightline has laid off 20% of its workforce. The company announced the move to employees on Friday.
A company spokesperson said Brightline “identified several areas to realign our strategic priorities” but didn’t explain what those areas or priorities are. It’s not clear precisely how many employees were impacted.
The layoffs were made across all areas of the business, the spokesperson said. Social media posts indicate that this includes roles in recruiting and speech pathology.
“We approached these decisions focused on the capabilities we need to best serve our members today and our goals of serving even more families in the future,” the spokesperson said.
Since its founding in 2019, the Palo Alto, California-based startup has raised about $212 million, according to crunchbase.com.
The company raised $115 million in 2022 alone. It landed a $105 million Series C round led by the global investment firm KKR and a $10 million investment from Northwell Health.
Brightline seeks to be a virtual one-stop shop for pediatric behavioral health and family support. It provides digital tools, coaches, live therapy sessions, psychiatric services and medication support.
Brightline joins several digital health companies that are instituting layoffs. Virtual care unicorn Cerebral also rolled out a 20% reduction in force, impacting over 1,000 employees, last week. The digital mental wellness company Calm announced it would cut 20% of its workforce.
It’s not just mental health companies cutting their workforce. In June, digital primary provider Carbon Health cut 8% of its staff while telehealth company Antidote Health also announced layoffs last week.
Earlier in the year, Brightline launched a virtual coaching program for parents in April. This month, Brightline was also added to Amazon’s employee benefits.
Its efforts to expand into autism treatment came in response to demand from existing clients.
Last year, it launched a national expansion to grow its footprint. Brightline hauled in one of the largest funding rounds identified by Behavioral Health Business in 2021 to fuel that expansion.
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