Video game-based therapeutic company Akili raises $160M to help children with ADHD

Akili Interactive’s EndeavorRx uses video games to help treat ADHD

US-based technology company, Akili, has raised $160M in both equity and debt financing to support the marketing of their video game treatment, EndeavorRx, for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
EndeavorRx is a prescription video game that helps children aged between 8 and 12 with ADHD ‘reprogram’ their brains. It secured approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June last year as a video game-based treatment that can help children with ADHD.
A Series D funding round, led by Neuberger Berman Funds, landed $110M for Akili. In addition,  up to $50M was supplied by Silicon Valley Bank in debt financing. Investors included Polaris Partners, Mirae Assets and Shionogi, among other participants. Overall, this brought Akili’s total equity funding to a whopping $230M.
Akili stressed that aside using the new funds for at-scale marketing of EndeavorRx, they also aim to expand its business beyond ADHD treatment.
Santosh Shanbhag, chief financial officer at Akili, said in a statement:

Our $160M financing announced today is another significant step in delivering on Akili’s mission to reinvent medicine,
This is the latest milestone in what has been a revolutionary journey for Akili. It will enable us to bring EndeavorRx to as many appropriate patients as possible, advance our core technology, expand our global footprint, and fund research across a wide range of cognitive impairments.

Eddie Martucci, Akili’s cofounder and CEO, added in a statement:

Akili set the bar high when we set out to challenge the status quo of medicine in 2011. Since then, we’ve developed a completely new treatment category that has the potential to help hundreds of millions of people living with cognitive impairments,”
This latest round of funding enables us to take another meaningful step towards delivering on this promise to patients, and fully realize the potential of digital treatments. Beyond treating disease, digital therapeutics of the future will be data-rich, adapt to the unique needs and preferences of each user, deliver amazing experiences, and even integrate into our everyday lives. We look forward to continuing to make the future of medicine a reality for patients

Source: Medical Device Network

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