CHICAGO– NOCD, the world’s leading provider of obsessive compulsive-disorder (OCD) treatment, today announced the closing of a $33 million Series B funding round to continue its efforts to address the global OCD crisis, establishing a new behavioral health market category called “Community-Driven Therapy”. The funds will be used to expand NOCD’s community, reach people earlier in their treatment journey, and offer additional services to assist with their long-term health.
The investment was led by F-Prime Capital, with Eight Roads Ventures, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures participating along with existing investors including 7wireVentures, Health Enterprise Partners (HEP), and Chicago Ventures.
“The behavioral health treatment system needs a new digital front door that meets the needs of consumers with severe conditions on their terms, where they are. Telehealth is an important solution for people that do not feel comfortable seeking treatment for stigmatized issues outside of their home. NOCD offers a frictionless, effective therapy experience that addresses their unmet needs and helps them regain hope in life,” said Stephen Smith, Chief Executive Officer and founder of NOCD. “NOCD, for the first time, offers an accessible and effective solution for one of the most prevalent and stigmatized behavioral health populations – people with OCD. Our unique approach has also enabled us to establish a new category in the behavioral health field called Community-Driven Therapy. We look forward to working with our investors who participated in this financing to accelerate our mission to improve the lives of people with OCD and support our significant growth.”
Community-Driven Therapy leverages condition-specific peer communities to identify consumers in need of help, encourage them to begin treatment, and serve them in a highly personalized way. In the case of NOCD, many people are motivated to start treatment after hearing from others in the NOCD community who have overcome similar, difficult challenges. Additionally, the compelling community data drives NOCD’s clinical leadership team to deliver evidence-based treatment services to community members in highly personalized ways. Data show that the Community-Driven Therapy market is poised to successfully address many severe and costly needs within behavioral health, starting with OCD.
With over 18 consecutive months of rapid growth and demonstrated, measurable, and sustainable improved outcomes, NOCD has solidified its position as the global leader in OCD treatment and in Community-Driven Therapy. The company has not only built the world’s largest OCD patient online community – bringing to light a massive, underserved behavioral health population – it has also scaled a widely used online therapy service for its community. Inside the NOCD platform, members can receive ongoing, face-to-face telehealth sessions from licensed NOCD therapists that specifically specialize in OCD treatment. Additionally, members have access to always-on support when their therapist is unavailable, including personalized peer groups and self-help tools. NOCD’s use of sophisticated technology allows it to deliver a high touch personalized treatment, which turns out to be a perfect fit for a chronic yet manageable condition like OCD. NOCD’s comprehensive treatment model has proven to be a more effective, affordable and convenient treatment than the current standard of care.
The company is now delivering more than 12,000 live telehealth visits per month through the only nationwide network of exposure and response prevention (ERP) specialty-trained providers, with outcomes showing 40% improvement in a patient’s health within as few as 90 days. To make ERP, a once historically unaffordable treatment, more accessible, NOCD has partnered with the nation’s leading health insurance companies, offering more than a third of Americans access to NOCD therapy as a covered benefit.
“F-Prime is excited to partner with the world-class team at NOCD as they continue to experience significant growth and build upon their ongoing reputation of clinical success,” said Jon Lim, partner at F-Prime Capital. “We believe NOCD has developed a highly differentiated and proven solution that is transforming the treatment landscape for communities and patients suffering from OCD.”
The opportunity to transform lives of people with OCD is also why Kaiser Permanente Ventures partnered with NOCD.
“NOCD’s unique and scalable approach meets individuals suffering from OCD where they express their distress and offers them an online community where they can anonymously share their experiences with each other, get diagnosed, and receive holistic virtual care from specialized therapists,” said Daniel van den Bergh, Director at Kaiser Permanente Ventures. “We’re excited to support NOCD as the platform scales to address the needs of millions suffering from OCD.”
While NOCD has built a salient presence in the US market, in recent months the platform is also experiencing increasing traction from international markets. Eight Roads Ventures, with its global platform across Europe, India, China and Japan, and over 50 years of investment experience in healthcare and technology, will help NOCD to further support international customers.
NOCD is committed to ensuring that even some of the most complex OCD community members can receive excellent care to match their clinical needs. To accomplish this, the company is broadening its extensive clinical training programs to address conditions such as Hoarding Disorder and Body-focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) as well as other anxiety and mood disorders that often are comorbid to OCD. Further, NOCD is launching virtual partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient (IOP), and psychiatric treatment services, to enhance the company’s ability to offer its most severe community members additional help if needed.
