Ellipsis to Harness the Unique Power of Voice
Market leader in AI-generated voice biomarker technology offers clinicians, payers, and patients clinically validated measurement-based solutions for advancing
mental health care
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – August 31, 2021 – Ellipsis Health, pioneer of the first voice vital sign to quantify and manage depression and anxiety at scale, today announced that it has raised $26 million in Series A funding to further its measurement-based approach to identifying and quantifying behavioral health conditions. Through voice technology, Ellipsis Health empowers people to take control of their mental health and supports clinicians managing surging patient volumes. The investment round, was led by SJF Ventures with participation from AblePartners, Akhil Paul at Caparo Group, Alumni Ventures, Divesh Makan, Gaingels, Gary Loveman, Generator Ventures, Greycroft, Helmy Eltoukhy, Joanne Bradford, Khosla Ventures, Luminous Ventures, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, Richard Socher, Ricardo Villela Marino, SpringTide Ventures, and What If Ventures. The Series A investment round brings Ellipsis Health’s total funding to $31 million.
Ellipsis Health is on a mission to establish voice as an affordable, non-invasive vital sign as the next clinical standard in mental health care – globally. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Ellipsis Health generates a science-based assessment of stress, depression, and anxiety from less than 60 seconds of a person’s natural speech. The company works with innovative payers, providers and employers including Cigna Corporation’s international business, who are advancing mental health care and enabling the democratization of emotional wellbeing by increasing access to services and improving care. The Cigna StressWaves Test, created in partnership between the two companies, is an online tool that analyzes acoustic and semantic voice patterns to evaluate stress levels.
Behavioral health conditions are at epidemic proportions with 28 percent of people in the U.S. having depression, 36 percent suffering from anxiety, and 41 percent reporting mental health disorders within the last year, two times more than 2019. Approximately one-third of people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease are also battling depression. The National Alliance on Mental Health estimates that 55 percent of people with mental illness are not receiving treatment. To further exacerbate the crisis, estimates project a shortage of up to 30,000 psychiatrists in the U.S. by 2024.
“Now more than ever, we need to prioritize the adoption of solutions that scale access to mental health awareness, diagnosis and evidence-based treatment,” remarks Cody Nystrom, Managing Director with SJF Ventures. “To effect meaningful and urgent change, providers need efficient, scalable clinical decision support technology like Ellipsis Health to help identify and stratify patients so we can appropriately treat behavioral health conditions early and often.”
With the funding, Ellipsis Health will continue to grow its customer base, expand global partnerships, build a multidisciplinary team, research, and develop new voice-based technology, and continue its work in dismantling the pervasive stigmas around behavioral health. Most importantly, the company will be expanding its voice vital sign to address the mental health of children and adolescents. These more vulnerable populations are often not investigated as vigorously, which can delay a diagnosis and critical treatment leading to devastating outcomes. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionfound the rate of suicide among those aged 10 to 24 increased nearly 60 percent between 2007 and 2018, highlighting the desperate need for accessible and innovative clinical decision support tools like Ellipsis Health.
Ellipsis’ models analyze both what is said (using natural language processing) and how it is said (acoustics, such as tone and timing) to better understand a person’s emotional state. The technology seamlessly integrates with mobile apps, patient portals and telehealth visits – easily enabling data-driven care, workflow efficiency and positive economics for providers, insurers, and employers. The company is closing the mental health screening gap by identifying people who need help sooner while also bridging the monitoring gap by gaining visibility into people’s mental health over time and between appointments.
“The Ellipsis Health team is incredibly grateful to everyone who is working tirelessly to build awareness and compassion for behavioral health conditions, and we are excited to continue to collaborate with more partners in the industry to systematically establish a new clinical standard in mental health care,” said Mainul I Mondal, Founder and CEO of Ellipsis Health. “Together, we can revolutionize emotional wellbeing and enable people to build deeper relationships, connections, and bonds with each other.”
About Ellipsis Health
Ellipsis Health has pioneered an artificial intelligence-powered, speech-based vital sign to quantify and manage stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms at scale. With depression, and anxiety symptoms impacting one-third of Americans and costing the global society over $1 trillion each year, Ellipsis Health’s integrated behavioral health solution helps healthcare providers and payers to reliably identify and stratify patient populations. Machine-learning algorithms assess patient speech through cloud-based deep learning models and generate an automated assessment of stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms for clinical decision support. To learn more about the HIPAA-compliant platform facilitating behavioral health screening and longitudinal monitoring of symptoms and treatment efficacy for depression and anxiety, please visit www.ellipsishealth.com or contact Susan Solinsky, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer, susan@ellipsishealth.com.