Ten behavioral health founders have been featured on the 2025 Inc. Female Founder 500 list.

The list seeks to be the “definitive list of women entrepreneurs making significant waves in business,” Diana Ransom, executive editor of Inc. Magazine, said in an article explaining the methodology for establishing the list.

Those featured on the list lead organizations that are independent companies based in the U.S. The magazine held two rounds of assessments and eliminations of potential candidates, assessing both qualitative and quantitative factors. It also engaged its Founders Advisory Board to conduct the third round of assessment. 

“Female founders know what struggle is, but they’re also experts of improvisation, adaptability, and creativity. The women featured on this year’s list exemplify these qualities,” Inc. Magazine Executive Editor Diana Ransom said in a statement. “Through times of uncertainty, their unwavering dedication and steadfast leadership are not only inspiring but vital to driving progress.”

The overall Inc. Female Founder 500 list is widely diverse, seeing the companies of its honorees generate $9 billion in 2024 revenue and $10.6 billion in funding, according to a statement. The behavioral health-related honorees nearly exclusively lead digital behavioral health companies with a smattering of tech vendors and tech-heavy in-person care providers. 

Behavioral health founders featured on the list include:

— April Koh, Spring Health

— Georgia Gaveras, Talkiatry

— Grace Chang, Kintsugi

— Lucia Huang, Osmind

— Monika Roots, Bend Health

— Naomi Allen, Brightline

— Natalie Schneider, Fort Health

— Nicoletta Tessler, BeMe Health

— Sonia Garcia, Amae Health

— Stephanie Strong, Boulder Care

Candidates were assessed largely on their performance and accomplishments, and that of their enterprises, throughout 2024.

“Brightline was born out of my own experience as a parent struggling to find the right care for my child,” Naomi Allen, CEO and co-founder of Brightline, said in a statement. “I know firsthand how hard it is to navigate our complex health care system. This recognition from Inc. lets us expand our awareness about the urgent need for accessible, high-quality mental health care for kids and teens.”

Brightline is in the midst of a radical pivot to return to its original pre-COVID model. Founded in 2019 and then called Emilio Health, the company was originally conceived as an in-person and telehealth provider. But during the onset of the pandemic, the company shifted to a virtual-only model and sustained that model for years. Last year, the company shuttered operations in 45 states and reworked its footprint to get back to that model.

Georgia Gaveras, co-founder and chief medical officer of Talkiatry, helped her virtual psychiatric practice hire about 400 physicians, developed a geriatric psychiatry program, and found that about two-thirds of patients no longer displayed clinically significant levels of anxiety or depression after an average of five weeks over 15 weeks via an internal study she led.

“This achievement reflects the incredible work our team has done and is doing to ensure patients have access to high-quality, affordable behavioral health care that truly makes a difference in their lives,” Gaveras said in a statement.

Last year, the company and its executives advocated for the Drug Enforcement Administration to continue its telehealth flexibilities for controlled substance prescribing. Talkiatry also raised $130 million in 2024.

Spring Health, Bend Health, Fort Health and Boulder Care all provide virtual behavioral health services, each specialized to specific populations or in partnership with other health constituencies.

Bend Health and Fort Health partner with pediatricians and medical groups to help provide coordinated care and other support services. Bend Health expanded services to treat young people up to age 25 and to include digital acute stabilization in 2024. Fort Health raised a capital round and expanded into two states last year.

“We benefited from this societal shift focused on the youth mental health crisis,” Fort Health Founder and CEO Natalie Schneider said at BHB’s INNOVATE event in December 2024.

Boulder Care offers virtual addiction treatment for patients covered by Medicaid plans. Last year, the company raised a $35 million funding round. The company, along with Spring Health, were also recognized among the fastest-growing companies in the U.S.

Spring Health partners with businesses to provide access to in-network virtual mental health services. It works with employers, health plans and other companies that seek to deliver suites of services to enterprises; the company calls these channel companies.

BeMe Health provides a teen-focused, digital mental health platform. It secured $12.5 million in anticipation of raising a Series A round in 2024. It offers teens coaching, content and tools to manage mental health.

Amae Health stands out among the provider organizations because of its care delivery model.

“We do have actual clinics, physical clinic spaces, where folks come in and really do engage in their care with their clinicians, all in-house, and build community,” Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Sonia Priscilla García said at INNOVATE.

The company focuses on caring for those with serious mental illness (SMI) under a value-based care model.

Kintsugi and Osmind are software companies that work with behavioral health companies. Kintsugi uses AI and similar technologies to identify and track voice-based biomarkers. It is developing a care recommendation system based on voice biomarker assessments and D2C support app. Osmind is an electronic health record for behavioral health and life science organizations that emphasized research and measurement-based care.