Private equity firm Regal Healthcare Capital Partners invested $50 million into mental health provider Lightfully Behavioral Health, according to an Axios report.
The $50 million is a culmination of a previous $30 million that Regal Healthcare Capital Partners invested in 2021 and a fresh $20 million.
Thousand Oaks, California-based Lightfully provides mental health treatment in California. It offers partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient programs (IOPs), residential treatment and virtual IOPs. It has 12 behavioral health facilities and an additional one listed as coming soon on its website.
The company recently expanded into the college space with a new virtual IOP offering, Lightfully U, geared towards university students. The company pitched the services to help address the mass influx of students living with behavioral health conditions.
“[Colleges] don’t have enough resources… Counselors are struggling with what to do with students that maybe [they are] not prepared to manage,” Andie Hollowell, chief growth officer for Lightfully, previously told Behavioral Health Business. “Based on the fact that colleges are largely providing outpatient services where, optimally, they are seen once a week, what we offer is a step up from that; it’s a higher level of treatment. We look at it as a supportive service or an additional referral for that counselor or student health center.”
In 2021, the private equity firm invested $30 million in the provider. At the time, Lightfully announced its ambitious plans to open 30 outpatient behavioral health clinics across California, Colorado and Washington over the next 5 years.
“We are seeking to basically be the DaVita of mental health — you will find us in every state and you will experience a consistent care quality experience across every site and we will be highly accessible,” Lightfully Behavioral Health CEO Jennifer Steiner told Behavioral Health Business in a 2022 interview.
Regal Healthcare Capital has several investments in the behavioral health space. For example, it invested $20 million in behavioral health crisis care provider MIND 24-7.
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