Little Otter Announces $22 Million Series A Investment In Child And Family Mental Health

Enterprise capitalists poured $1.5 billion into psychological well being startups in 2020, however few of those corporations concentrate on all the household and none concentrate on youngsters ages three and beneath – although the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed children’s mental health to crisis levels. Youngsters at the moment are affected by nervousness, PTSD, stress, and despair at alarming charges, and but many dad and mom have problem accessing care. The American Academy of Baby and Adolescent Psychaitry (AACP) argues that the U.S. wants four times as many child psychiatrists as are at present accessible. 

Little Otter is the primary digital psychological well being firm to supply psychological well being care for youngsters beneath 13 and their dad and mom. The know-how shortly triages households so that children, dad and mom and siblings can obtain the specialty care they want, which contains goal-setting and measurable outcomes. With Little Otter, 85% of households see scientific enchancment in simply six periods – the time it takes most youngsters simply to be seen for an preliminary session. 

On January 6, 2022, Little Otter is saying one of many largest Collection A rounds for a youngsters’s psychological well being firm at this stage, $22 million led by CRV. The mother-daughter cofounders – Rebecca Egger, beforehand of Chan-Zuckerberg Institute and Palantir, and Dr. Helen Egger M.D., beforehand head of kid psychiatry at NYU Langone and Duke College – are intent on delivering a brand new mannequin to overtake how we take into consideration and deal with youngsters’s psychological well being. Since its launch in Could 2021, Little Otter has seen 45% month-over-month progress.

Right here is how Little Otter works. A household indicators up on the app by taking a five-minute questionnaire about their little one and household wants. They’re then linked with a private care lead who finds the suitable supplier – a baby therapist or psychiatrist, parenting specialist, {couples} counselor and extra. The care lead stays a accomplice all through all the journey, setting objectives with the household, doing quarterly psychological well being checkups, measuring success, and retaining the household’s wants on observe. All Little Otter households even have entry to assets, actions and instruments to help their psychological well being wants.

Cofounder and Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Helen Egger is a pioneer within the area of kid psychiatry, with over 30 years of scientific and tutorial expertise. “I knew that the kids’s psychological well being disaster couldn’t be solved simply by coaching extra suppliers,” she says. “We have to convey digital innovation and information science along with little one psychological well being. I left behind a prestigious profession main little one and adolescent psychiatry departments at distinguished establishments with a purpose to launch Little Otter to assist clear up these issues. It feels just like the end result of my life’s work.” 

CEO and cofounder Rebecca Egger has greater than 10 years of expertise working in medical know-how, specializing in product design. “To start with, I got here on board with Little Otter solely as a guide to assist my mother along with her new mission, and put the product and engineering chops from my jobs at Palantir and the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative to work. Nonetheless, after constructing the primary pitch deck, I knew I had to assist. We’re constructing one thing of lasting worth, bringing scientists, docs, engineers, therapists, designers, and extra collectively to create a brand new answer for household psychological well being.”

One silver lining of the pandemic is that digital care has develop into accepted by dad and mom, permitting Little Otter to enter youngsters’s lives as a trusted accomplice. Up to now 12 months, Little Otter has helped households determined for psychological well being help obtain speedy entry to care. 70% of U.S. counties would not have a baby psychiatrist, solely 17% of psychiatrists have appointments accessible, and the common wait time to see a specialist is 43 days. Little Otter eliminates this wait time and ensures that when youngsters and oldsters do see caregivers, it’s with the proper supplier for his or her particular wants. 

Little Otter additionally affords households beneficial instruments to help in managing their youngsters’s psychological well being. A tantrum evaluation helps dad and mom study whether or not or not they need to fear about their little one’s mood tantrums. A back-to-school toolkit offers dad and mom a customized report and actionable recommendations on methods to navigate the brand new college 12 months. A vacation toolkit affords dad and mom recommendation on methods to navigate vacation associated nervousness and stress.

“Serving to younger individuals have the healthiest psychological well being potential in order that they will pursue their life’s goal is what Little Otter is all about,” says Rebecca Egger. “My recommendation to others looking for and pursuing a profession with goal is to prioritize psychological well being in order that they are often wholesome and glad, which permits us to be curious and uncover our life’s passions.”