Mark Frank, SonderMind CEO, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the company reaching unicorn status following its Series C funding and outlook on investments in mental health.

Video Transcript

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- Welcome back. Teletherapy has soared, especially throughout the pandemic, as more people are focused on their mental health and the need for virtual. It's a surge that has propelled the online therapy platform SonderMind to unicorn status. We're joined now by Mark Frank, SonderMind CEO, as well as our health reporter Anjalee Khemlani.

So Mark, let's just start here with the model that SonderMind has. It is a hybrid model, so you can see your therapist online, but also in the office. So that's a little bit different from what we see from some of these other platforms, like BetterHelp or Talkspace. Why this hybrid model? And do you think folks are going to be more interested in that, especially as we leave the pandemic behind?

MARK FRANK: Absolutely. So SonderMind is really focused on providing the best care that will improve people's mental health better than anyone. And so we use technology to really ensure, first, that we create a really seamless experience for all of our therapists as well as the consumers and individuals who are seeking care.

And then as you mentioned, we really employ a hybrid model. So it's not about whether you're using video telehealth or in-person care, it's really about getting you to the right therapist and ensuring that you can continue seeing that therapist in the means and with the mode that really makes the highest impact for your clinical needs.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Hey, this is Anjalee Thanks so much for joining us. I want to know, looking at sort of the trajectory that you have, you're now operating in 10 states and want to go nationwide by 2023. What are the next, maybe, five states that you have lined up?

MARK FRANK: So right now, our footprint is pretty diverse. You know, we're based in Colorado. We've spread across to Texas, and Virginia, and Ohio, and Missouri, and Georgia, as well as a number of other states. We are looking at expansion across some other states on the Eastern coast-- so likely around North Carolina, and potentially Massachusetts in New England-- as well as some more states in the Midwest, so areas that are somewhat geographically proximate to Missouri, and to Kansas, and Colorado, where we have a really good footprint right now.

At this point, we actually cover 73 million American lives who have commercial insurance or have Medicare or Medicare Advantage. So we have a pretty good footprint already, and we're certainly going to use this new capital to propel us to a national footprint.

- Yeah, I want to talk more about that new capital. Mark, you're in a really enviable position, raising $150 million in a funding round co-lead by Drive Capital, vaulting the company to that unicorn status. You have a valuation of more than a billion dollars now. Talk to us about what this money will help SonderMind do, and what other markets do you hope to expand into in the near term?

MARK FRANK: Well, like I mentioned, we are absolutely going to be expanding across, at the end of the day, over the next two to three years, to have a footprint across the entire country. And another big use of capital for us is to continue expanding on our technology suite. We use a pretty comprehensive, full-stack solution that gives us a lot of data. And what we do with that data is we first let it inform getting you the right therapist.

So we have a good understanding of which therapists provide the best clinical care based on specific needs, and demographics, and things like that, which is really, you know, we see as pretty unique amongst the industry and the competitive set. So we're going to continue to reinvest capital into our technology solution, into our data and learning models so that we can just continue to focus on providing, at the end of the day, the best clinical outcomes for every person who is in need of care.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Mark, looking out into the future, I know that you've been pretty conservative about the growth. But looking at where you are right now and the status you've achieved, do you have any idea of when you might exit, go public, et cetera, what the future holds for SonderMind?

MARK FRANK: Yeah, that's a great question. We are-- our real goal at the end of the day is to make sure that we can achieve our mission. And so whether that's as a private company or as a public company, we do believe that we're going to remain an independent company for the life of the organization. And so, you know, I would say it's too early to tell whether we'll be looking at an IPO or another way to go public. But at this point, we're really excited about the couple of partners we have behind us.

- All right, we're going to leave that there. Mark Frank, CEO of SonderMind. Health reporter Anjalee Khemlani. Thank you both so much for joining us for this conversation today.