Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 led an $80m series D round for US-based digital therapeutics product developer Pear Therapeutics on Tuesday.
Pharmaceutical firm Novartis also took part in the round, along with Temasek, 5AM Ventures, Arboretum Ventures, Jazz Venture Partners, EDBI, Forth Management, Pilot House, Sarissa Capital, Shanda Group, CrimsoNox and Quad Investment Management.
Pear is developing a portfolio of prescription digital therapeutics to treat diseases, either by themselves or in tandem with drug treatments. It has secured regulatory approval in the US for products to treat substance and opioid use disorders as well as a treatment for chronic insomnia.
The company has now raised at least $214m in total. Jazz Venture Partners, Arboretum Ventures, Bridge Builders Collaborative and existing investor 5AM Ventures supplied $20m in series A funding in 2016 before the last three joined Novartis, EDBI and Temasek in a $50m series B two years later.
Temasek led Pear’s $64m series C round in January 2019, investing with Novartis, Arboretum Ventures, Jazz Venture Partners, Bridge Builders Collaborative, EDBI, Trustbridge Partners, Blue Water Life Science Fund and a hedge fund likely to have been CrimsoNox.
Elena Viboch, an investor at SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages Vision Fund, will take a board seat at Pear in connection with the deal.
Kirthiga Reddy, partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: “We believe prescription digital therapeutics are creating a new category of medicine.
“Pear Therapeutics has combined biology and software to pioneer the first end-to-end platform for prescription digital products, with an initial focus on serious psychiatric diseases. We are pleased to support Pear’s mission to create the next generation of therapeutics and deliver better patient outcomes.”
