Wysa, an AI-powered mental health chatbot company, has acquired April Health, a behavioral health company that partners with primary care providers.

The acquisition expands Wysa’s behavioral health offerings to include both human and AI options. It also allows the company to overcome the challenge of getting reimbursed for its services, Ramakant Vempati, co-founder and president of Wysa, told Behavioral Health Business.

“We have fantastic technology that has been proven in the UK’s [ National Health Service (NHS)] to be of huge benefit to both patients and clinicians, in terms of user experience, symptom reductions and cost savings,” Vempati said in an email. “The challenge for us has been finding a way to incorporate that technology into a U.S. healthcare structure. Reimbursement services such as collaborative care allow us to get our technology into the hands of people who need them. We chose April Health because of a proven track record in collaborative care, with outstanding feedback from patients.”

Wysa will remain the company’s primary brand, while all of the human-based support services gained through the April Health deal will be sub-branded as April Health by Wysa. Every April Health patient will have access to Wysa’s chatbot regardless of insurance coverage.

San Francisco-based April Health offers telehealth psychiatry, care management and other behavioral health services integrated with primary care providers. Primary care providers refer patients to April Health, which then assigns a care manager and, optionally, a psychiatrist. The provider focuses on mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, loneliness and life changes. It accepts Medicare, Medicaid and most commercial insurance plans.

The collaborative care model (CoCM), like the one operated by Wysa and April Health, can decrease the cost of care and increase behavioral health care provider capacity. It also can address the shortage of behavioral health professionals, according to Vempati.

“April Health by Wysa doesn’t cost primary care practices a dime,” Vempati said. “In fact, we enable behavioral health to become reimbursable, bringing in much needed revenue to the practice, as well as the comprehensive support that patients need. In some geographies, such as North Carolina, there is even a $20,000 grant available to primary care practices to facilitate this much-needed service.”

Healthworx, the investment and innovation arm of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, invested in April Health in September 2024 as part of its Healthworx Accelerator program. April Health has raised a total of $25,000, according to Crunchbase.

Two of April Health’s existing primary care partners, Duke LifePoint Healthcare and MercyOne, have already adopted the integrated April Health/Wysa care model.

Wysa has offices in Boston, London and Bengaluru, India. The company partners with employers and insurers to connect employees with its AI chatbot and is also available directly to consumers as a smartphone application. The app’s interface includes a friendly penguin that asks users questions and provides them with guided meditations, breathing exercises and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) lessons.

Wysa operates in 95 countries and covers 11 million lives. The company has raised a total of just under $30 million in funding.

“By bringing Wysa’s AI into April Health’s care model, we’re creating a seamless system where patients can engage with mental health support immediately while still receiving expert-led care,” Vempati said in a statement.