Cortica raises USD 40M in Series D funding

Cortica has raised $40 million in a Series D extension, bringing the total Series D round to $115 million. The extension was entirely strategic, led by CVS Health Ventures, in conjunction with LRVHealth, Ascension Investment Management (a subsidiary of Ascension), and the University of Wisconsin Foundation.

“There is an increasing need for access to evidence-based care for children with neurodivergent conditions and autism, and we believe that Cortica is well positioned to help support our members and their dependents by deploying an integrated, medical and behavioral care model,” said Justin Brock, partner at CVS Health Ventures. “Through our investment and collaboration with Cortica, we believe that we can help improve the overall quality of care for individuals with autism, as well as provide support to their caregivers.”

Founded to fix the fragmented care journey families typically experience when seeking diagnoses and treatments, Cortica’s whole-child, whole-family, value-based care model for autism spans medical treatment, neurodiversity-affirming behavioral therapy, developmental therapy (encompassing speech, occupational, physical, and music therapies), and family support and counseling.

Cortica’s care model has shown improved outcomes across conditions that frequently co-occur with autism, including sleep disorders, seizures, psychiatric comorbidities, and gastrointestinal, communication, behavioral, and sensorimotor issues, among others – while utilizing less than 50% of standard applied behavioral analysis volumes, limiting the use of antipsychotic and stimulant medications, and reducing emergency department and inpatient admissions.

Cortica delivers on multiple metrics related to the healthcare effectiveness data and information set (HEDIS), one of the healthcare industry’s most widely used performance tools. Cortica’s value proposition has led to four whole-child value-based care contracts, with several more in the pipeline.

“After working closely with our strategic network and developing a deep thesis on autism, one of the most complex challenges in healthcare, we’re thrilled to have discovered and invested in Cortica,” said Ellen Herlacher, principal at LRVHealth. “Cortica’s validated care model and technology platform improve clinical outcomes, enhance the healthcare experience, and reduce waste in the system.”

The additional funding will support the company’s continued national scaling of whole-child autism value-based care, as well as deeper investments in technology, data capture, clinical decision support, research, and optimization of the clinician and patient experience.

“I’m deeply grateful to have the support of these impactful and visionary strategic partners,” said Neil Hattangadi, MD, co-founder and CEO of Cortica. “With 1 in 36 children in the United States now affected with autism, and that prevalence continually climbing, partnerships between the field’s most innovative clinicians, strategic investors, health plans, and health systems are essential to defragment the traditional care model and evolve the reimbursement paradigm. We can no longer wait. Collectively, we’re in a position to solve one of the most pressing challenges confronting humanity.”
MB Bureau