Delivering Incredible Mental Healthcare to Millions: Ginger’s Next Chapter

The photo above was taken in early February 2020 at Gingeroo, our all-team offsite, just a few weeks before COVID-19 lockdowns began. It has been a full six months since the Ginger team has been together in person. The dedication and resilience that this team has shown during these tumultuous few months continues to amaze me. In particular, our incredible care providers -- our coaches, therapists and psychiatrists -- continue to bear the weight of COVID-19’s growing impact on mental health as our member usage numbers have spiked. At the same time, employers - one of the largest payers of healthcare - are increasingly recognizing the need to respond, and our client base has grown by 3x in the first half of 2020 alone. Companies like Delta Air Lines, Sanofi, Chegg, SurveyMonkey, Domino’s, and Sephora all look to Ginger to deliver cost-effective, high-quality care to their employees whenever and wherever they need it. 

While that brisk day in February seems like a lifetime ago, our vision at Ginger has remained constant: a world where mental health is never an obstacle. So, I’m thrilled to share today that Ginger has brought on a new $50M round of funding from Advance Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cigna, and existing investors. This investment could not be more timely as we all face uncharted territory, and Ginger is meeting the surging demand for virtual mental healthcare around the world. 

A key part of our success is bringing on the right partners to help get Ginger into the hands of those who need it, as quickly as we can. Our three new investors not only believe in our vision, but they share our sense of urgency in addressing the mental health crisis head on. Each of these firms uniquely strengthens our ability to tackle this large-scale, global challenge. With this round of funding, we welcome two new members to Ginger’s Board of Directors: David ibnAle, Founding Partner of AVP and Steve Kraus, Partner at Bessemer, who each bring deep expertise in digital transformation and healthcare to Ginger’s leadership team. We’re thrilled to begin working with them and with Cigna to navigate the healthcare landscape and continue to deliver meaningful change to the mental health status quo.  

With this investment, we’ll accelerate our work to deliver incredible mental healthcare at a fraction of the cost to hundreds of millions of people around the world. We’re actively expanding our relationships with strategic partners, national and regional health plans, and employers of all sizes. We’re also advancing our research efforts to better understand mental health and build upon our technology and proprietary database of one of the world’s largest mental health data sets. 

So far, 2020 has been defined as a year of uncertainty and struggle. Yet, it’s also a turning point in our history. In the current economic and political environment, workforce leaders are rising to the task and addressing the global mental health crisis. Employee mental health, once seen as the responsibility of an HR team, is now the responsibility of every executive and board member. Ginger is ready for this moment and I am honored and proud to work with such amazing colleagues, and feel ever more energized to move forward in this next exciting chapter of Ginger’s growth.