Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC) has acquired the digital mental health company UpLift in a deal worth $45 million.

The company announced Wednesday that the acquisition of UpLift, a virtual therapy and psychiatry provider, deepens its footprint in virtual mental health services and further enables it to provide those services on an in-network basis. UpLift’s payer partnerships cover over 100 million lives with a network of about 1,500 mental health clinicians, according to a news release from Teladoc.

The deal closed on April 30.

“Teladoc Health is uniquely positioned to help us accelerate the impact of our mission,” Kyle Talcott, founder and CEO of UpLift, said in the release.

Specifically, this deal will help Teladoc Health’s digital mental health entity BetterHelp, the largest cash-pay digital mental health provider of its kind, offer in-network care to its users. BetterHelp has been a holdout in the wider adoption of payer contracting and other B2B strategies within digital behavioral health.

“We intend to leverage BetterHelp’s deep consumer expertise and market position to provide more options for people to address their mental health needs, including the ability to access their benefits coverage through BetterHelp’s relationship with UpLift, as well as continued access to direct pay options in the U.S. and internationally,” Chuck Divita, CEO of Teladoc Health, said in prepared remarks for the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

BetterHelp struggled in Q1 2025, with revenue plunging 11% year-over-year to $239.9 million. Its revenue is expected to decline between 7.5 % to 11.25% in Q2.

Divita also acknowledged in his remarks that out-of-pocket costs are the main barrier for potential BetterHelp clients. Many of those who don’t convert cite an interest in using insurance coverage.

Talcott will keep his role as CEO of UpLift and will maintain oversight of its care quality, provider network and payer contracting.

“Therapists serving BetterHelp will also have an opportunity to be considered for inclusion in the benefits coverage network, based on the respective requirements, needs and interests,” Divita said.

Teladoc Health paid $30 million cash to acquire UpLift. The deal also includes up to $15 million in additional contingent earnouts. UpLift generated about $15 million in revenue last year, according to the release.

Before the deal, UpLift had been at least somewhat acquisitive itself. It branched into college mental health services with the acquisition of TAO Connect about a year ago. It also acquired the virtual psychiatric provider Minded in November 2023.

UpLift raised an $11 million funding round in July 2023. The company’s total funding raised totaled about $22 million. Ballast Point Ventures led that 2023 round.

On the Teladoc Health side, BetterHelp has wilted, financially speaking, while mental health services within the combined Teladoc virtual health care offering have grown.

Still, Teladoc is optimistic about BetterHelp’s future with the addition of Uplift.

“We believe that access to benefits coverage will lead to significantly higher conversion rates relative to BetterHelp’s cash pay business, driven by greater affordability, as prospective users would incur relatively low or potentially no out-of-pocket costs to access mental health care based on their particular benefits,” Mala Murthy, chief financial officer of Teladoc Health, said during the call.

–Ashleigh Hollowell contributed to this report.