Lyra

Lyra Health was founded in 2015 in Burlingame, California by David Ebersman, a former Chief Financial Officer of Facebook (Meta) and Genentech, alongside co-founders Bob Kocher, MD (a physician and former Obama administration health policy advisor) and Sean McBride. The company set out to fix what its founders viewed as a broken mental health benefits system: employer-sponsored Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that offered too few sessions, long wait times, and poor provider matching. Lyra built a technology platform that uses data and algorithms to match employees at large, self-insured employers with a curated, credentialed network of therapists, coaches, and psychiatrists, while measuring clinical outcomes to hold providers accountable.

The company built its early customer base among large technology and Fortune 500 employers, and grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic as demand for mental health benefits surged. Lyra's funding history reflects that trajectory: after early rounds including a $45 million raise in 2018 (with participation from Greylock, Venrock, and others), the company raised a $110 million round in 2020 that pushed its valuation past $1 billion (unicorn status), followed by roughly $175-187 million in a Series E (closed December 2020/January 2021) at a $2.25 billion valuation. Growth accelerated further with a $200 million Series F in mid-2021 at a $4.6 billion valuation, and a $235 million Series G around the turn of 2022 at a reported $5.58 billion valuation — bringing Lyra's total disclosed funding to roughly $906 million. Investors across these rounds included Greylock, Venrock, Tenaya Capital, Meritech Capital, IVP, Adams Street Partners, Fidelity Investments, Coatue, Dragoneer, Salesforce Ventures, and Sands Capital, among many others.

Lyra has also grown through acquisition, acquiring international EAP provider ICAS World (around early 2021) to extend its global network, and acquiring pediatric and whole-family mental health company Bend Health in July 2025 to expand into youth and family mental health care, including neuropsychological testing and high-acuity youth programs. In January 2025, co-founder David Ebersman stepped back from the CEO role, handing the reins to Jennifer Schulz, previously CEO of North America at Experian; Ebersman and co-founder Bob Kocher remain involved with the company (Kocher continues as a board member and leads Lyra's clinical associates business). Sandra Beaver, former CFO of Evolus, joined as Lyra's CFO in mid-2025.

Business model

B2B2C: Lyra contracts with employers and health plans, who then offer Lyra's mental health benefit to employees/members and their dependents at little or no cost; Lyra is paid by the employer/health plan (typically PEPM or per-session/episode based fees) rather than by individual consumers.

Enterprise contracts with self-insured employers and health plans (subscription/PEPM plus utilization-based fees); estimated annual revenue in the $100M-$500M+ range per third-party estimates (unconfirmed exact figure).