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    FLIPPING INTO TECH

    Simone Biles-backed mental health startup vaults to $4.8 billion value

    John Egan, InnovationMap
    Dec 13, 2021 | 9:56 am
    Simone Biles Cerebral
    Houston's favorite gymnast is the chief impact officer on a California-based tech company that's raised $462M.
    Photo courtesy of Cerebral.com

    Less than two months after Olympic gymnastics star Simone Biles of Spring joined mental health startup Cerebral as chief impact officer, the company has raised $300 million in venture capital — a sum that vaulted it to a valuation of $4.8 billion.

    San Francisco-based Cerebral announced the $300 million round December 8. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the Series C round, with participation from Prysm Capital, Access Industries, WestCap Group, and ARTIS Ventures.

    Launched in January 2020, Cerebral has raised a total of $462 million from investors, including an undisclosed amount from Biles.

    Biles, a 4-foot, 8-inch gymnastics powerhouse, has won 32 Olympic and World Championship medals. But it was her off-the-mat moves at this year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo that drew worldwide attention. Biles contended in just one event in Tokyo after withdrawing from all other competition to concentrate on her mental health.

    Two months after the Olympics, Biles agreed to become Cerebral’s chief impact officer, serving as the face of the brand.

    Cerebral was an official sponsor of Biles’ Gold Over America Tour, which took place from September to November, and is an official sponsor of the 2022 Simone Biles International Invitational, a gymnastics competition that will be held January 27-30 at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. The Spring-based World Champions Centre, Biles’ home gym, stages the invitational.

    “Mental health is just as important as physical health, but for far too long the stigma of mental health has prevented too many people from seeking help,” Biles says in a Cerebral news release. “I have my own challenges with mental health, and therapy has been very empowering for me as I try to be the best person that I can be. I believe everyone should have access to mental health resources, and Cerebral gives me the ability to personalize my mental health care experience.”

    Cerebral bills itself as a one-stop online shop for mental health care and wellness. The company offers counseling, therapy, and medication delivery and management online for conditions such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

    Cerebral boasts that the $300 million round makes it the world’s largest and fastest-growing online provider of mental health services.

    “Cerebral’s growth in the last year shows just how much the world needs affordable and accessible mental health care. It’s important to us that we not only improve access to mental health care through a convenient platform and affordable plans, but to also improve patient outcomes,” says Kyle Robertson, co-founder and CEO of Cerebral.

    The pandemic ramped up the use of telehealth services, including those delivered by Cerebral. According to Fortune Business Insights, the U.S. market for behavioral health grew 11.3 percent in 2020, with pandemic-fueled mental health concerns helping drive up demand. Fortune Business Insights estimates the U.S. market will expand from $77.62 billion in 2021 to $99.4 billion in 2028.

    Globally, the mental health market is projected to jump from $383.31 billion in 2020 to $537.97 billion by 2030, according to Allied Market Research.

    Digital health startups like Cerebral are benefiting from the mushrooming market for mental health. Rock Health, an investment and advisory firm, says that through the first nine months of 2021, investors pumped $21.3 billion into U.S. digital health startups. That compares with $14.6 billion in all of 2020.

    Cerebral says its $300 million cash infusion will enable it to undertake a global expansion, as well develop strategic partnerships and explore M&A opportunities. Today, Cerebral comprises a network of over 2,300 clinicians practicing in all 50 states.

    “Roughly half of the American population is affected by mental health issues. However, obstacles like cost, limited provider availability, and fear of judgment remain in the way of getting the treatment they need,” says Priya Saiprasad, a partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages SoftBank’s venture capital funds.

    ---

    This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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    a major award

    $2.6 million grant funds UH research towards a fentanyl vaccine

    InnovationMap Staff
    Dec 17, 2025 | 3:15 pm
    Hands holding pill bottle
    Photo by Jellybee on Unsplash
    UH has received a new financial gift towards the Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program, which is developing a fentanyl vaccine.

    The estate of Dr. William A. Gibson has granted the University of Houston a $2.6 million gift to support and expand its opioid addiction research, including the development of a fentanyl vaccine that could block the drug's ability to enter the brain.

    The gift builds upon a previous donation from the Gibson estate that honored the scientist’s late son Michael, who died from drug addiction in 2019. The original donation established the Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program in UH's department of psychology. The latest donation will establish the Michael Conner Gibson Endowed Professorship in Psychology and the Michael Conner Gibson Research Endowment in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

    “This incredibly generous gift will accelerate UH’s addiction research program and advance new approaches to treatment,” Daniel O’Connor, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, said in a news release.

    The Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program is led by UH professor of psychology Therese Kosten and Colin Haile, a founding member of the UH Drug Discovery Institute. Currently, the program produces high-profile drug research, including the fentanyl vaccine.

    According to UH, the vaccine can eliminate the drug’s “high” and could have major implications for the nation’s opioid epidemic, as research reveals Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is treatable.

    The endowed professorship is combined with a one-to-one match from the Aspire Fund Challenge, a $50 million grant program established in 2019 by an anonymous donor. UH says the program has helped the university increase its number of endowed chairs and professorships, including this new position in the department of psychology.

    “Our future discoveries will forever honor the memory of Michael Conner Gibson and the Gibson family,” O’Connor added in the release. “And I expect that the work supported by these endowments will eventually save many thousands of lives.”

    ----

    This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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