New funding: Heard, a 2-year-old startup aiming to help mental health professionals manage bookkeeping and taxes, raised $1.3 million.
The company: Heard builds software targeted at clinicians in the mental health industry who are running private practices. The idea is to streamline accounting, tax, payroll, and related services.
Pandemic-driven demand: The pandemic is taking a toll on mental health, according to a July 2020 KFF Tracking Poll which found that 53% of U.S. adults have struggled with mental health during COVID-19. Other health tech companies such as fellow Seattle startups 98point6 and Joon Care have raised cash to support tech-driven mental health solutions for clinicians and patients.
The pandemic also forced many therapists to transition into telehealth and operate their own businesses, said Heard co-founder and CEO Andrew Riesen.
“With the pandemic, it is an overwhelming but also an exciting time to be a clinician in private practice,” he said. “There are new ways to get paid, new ways of delivering care, and better tools to support your practice.”
Leadership: Heard is led by Riesen and his co-founder Victoria Li. Riesen, based in Seattle, previously worked at an internal incubator inside PwC. Li, based in San Francisco, was an engineer at Fitbit, Lantern and Wefunder.
Heard also has four clinical advisors: Asha Bauer, Psy.D., Lindsay Trent, Ph.D, Erica Simon, Ph.D., and Andrea Zorbas, Psy.D.
Investors: Seattle firm Founders’ Co-op led the seed round, which included participation from Act One Ventures. Other investors include Tom Williams, Shivaas Gulati, and more.
