Therapy Brands saw an influx of users for its telehealth service last year. Investment firm KKR plans to acquire a majority stake in the company. Photo credit: Therapy Brands
Investment firm KKR plans to acquire health software company Therapy Brands. The firm will buy a majority stake in the company from previous investors Lightyear Capital, Oak HC/FT and Greater Sum Ventures, with PSG remaining a minority shareholder in the company.
Though KKR did not disclose the terms of the deal, Bloomberg previously reported the firm would pay Therapy Brands for $1.2 billion, including debt. KKR said it is making the investment from its flagship North America private equity fund.
“We are excited to welcome KKR as our new investor, which brings a deep understanding of the healthcare sector and extensive experience in scaling technology-enabled platforms,” Therapy Brands CEO Kimberly O’Loughlin said in a news release. “This support will help us accelerate our mission of making it easier for providers to navigate an increasingly complex administrative landscape so they can spend more time and focus on delivering improved outcomes for their clients.”
Birmingham, Ala.-based Therapy Brands was founded in 2013. It provides electronic health record and practice management software for providers working in mental health, behavioral health, substance use recovery, applied behavior analysis (ABA) and physical rehabilitation.
Some of its better-known brands include Theranest, a practice management software for small therapy groups, and ShareNote, for larger practices. It works with more than 28,000 practices across the U.S.
Therapy Brands also offers a telehealth platform. Shortly after the U.S. declared the pandemic a national emergency, the company said that it saw use of its telehealth services jump 4,300% compared to the previous week.
Investors’ interest in behavioral health companies has also increased accordingly in the past year. It was one of the top investment categories for digital health companies at the beginning of the year.
KKR is no exception. The firm, which has backed big brands such as WebMD and Clarify Health, has also made investments in BrightSpring Health Services, which owns home care and behavioral health practices, and Blue Sprig Pediatrics, a provider of applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy.
“We are delighted to be backing Therapy Brands at a time when there is increasing recognition and social awareness about the importance of mental health,” KKR Partner Max Lin said in a news release.
