The company that built the first software-enabled network of therapists who accept health insurance - and made the copay show up before you book.
Headway's rising-sun mark, photographed for this profile. The brand nods to the company's name: steady, unglamorous progress on a stubborn problem - access to affordable mental health care.
Most people who need therapy never make the call. Not because they don't want help, but because finding a therapist who takes their insurance is genuinely hard, and the bill that follows is often a surprise. Headway, founded in New York in 2019, set out to fix that specific, unglamorous problem: the plumbing that connects patients, therapists, and insurers.
The company built what it describes as the first software-enabled network of therapists who accept health insurance. On one side, patients search for in-network clinicians, see real-time eligibility, and get their exact copay - often under $30 - before they book. On the other, independent therapists offload the parts of the job that have nothing to do with therapy: credentialing, claims, billing, and scheduling.
The result is a three-sided marketplace where the incentives line up. Patients get affordable care. Therapists get a practice without a billing department. Insurers get a wider, more usable behavioral-health network. Headway earns its keep from the insurers - not from the people receiving or delivering care.
Headway is building a new mental health care system - making it easy to find a therapist and even simpler to affordably pay for one with insurance.
HQ: New York, NY · Founded: 2019
Sector: Digital / behavioral health
Model: Insurance-funded marketplace (B2B2C)
Total raised: ~$327M across five rounds
Reach: All 50 states, 40+ insurance plans
Headway sits in the middle of a transaction that used to be a mess of paperwork. It routes care one way and money the other, absorbing the timing risk so that clinicians get paid on a fixed schedule.
Searches by insurance, sees copay, books in days
Eligibility, credentialing, claims, billing, payouts
Runs a practice, paid twice monthly - no admin
Who pays? The insurer. Headway is free for both patients and therapists and earns an administrative fee on the insurance claims it processes. That single design choice - monetizing the payer, not the people - is why both sides of the market keep growing.
A marketplace to find in-network therapists by insurance, specialty and availability, with real-time eligibility and the exact copay shown before booking. Virtual and in-person.
Credentialing, claims, billing and collections, scheduling, client reminders, and guaranteed twice-monthly payment - so a solo therapist can accept insurance with no back office.
Direct contracts with commercial and government plans to negotiate reimbursement rates and speed credentialing, giving insurers a larger accessible network.
Extending coverage to Medicare Advantage and Medicaid patients - programs that together cover roughly a third of Americans, often with the highest need.
Copays surfaced up front remove the guesswork and surprise bills that keep people from starting - or continuing - care.
The automated infrastructure behind roughly 300,000 monthly appointments across all 50 states.
Plenty of companies built an app for booking therapy. The bottleneck was never the booking screen - it was credentialing, claims, and the timing of reimbursement. Headway's difference is that it went after the boring middle.
Two choices stand out. First, it charges patients and therapists nothing, earning from insurers instead. Second, it pays clinicians on a fixed twice-monthly schedule even when the insurer hasn't reimbursed yet - floating the timing risk itself. That reliability did more to recruit providers than any marketing campaign.
Patients seeking affordable, insurance-covered therapy - the copay is typically under $30. Clinicians - therapists, psychologists and prescribers running private practices, roughly 34,000 of them. Insurers - 40+ plans including Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare and Optum affiliates, Oscar, Oxford, and select Blue Cross Blue Shield plans.
The platform processes on the order of 300,000 appointments a month across all 50 states.
Headway competes with Alma, Grow Therapy, SonderMind and Rula in the therapist-enablement space, and sits alongside employer-benefits players like Lyra Health, Spring Health, Modern Health and Headspace. Its edge is depth in the insurance layer rather than the consumer app.
By turning toward Medicare Advantage and Medicaid, Headway is aiming at the hardest, highest-need corner of the market - roughly 100 million covered Americans.
| Round | Amount | Date | Lead / notable investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | ~$2.3M | 2019 | Accel, Thrive Capital |
| Series A | ~$26M | 2020 | Thrive Capital, GV, Accel |
| Series B | $70M | May 2021 | Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) |
| Series C | $125M | Oct 2023 | Spark Capital |
| Series D | $100M | Jul 2024 | Spark Capital, Forerunner Ventures |
Total raised ~$327M · Valuation ~$2.3B at Series D (more than double the prior round). Figures approximate, compiled from public reporting.
Andrew Adams and co-founders launch Headway to build a software-enabled network of insurance-accepting therapists.
Revenue reportedly grew roughly ninefold as mental-health need spiked and the network expanded across early states.
Andreessen Horowitz backed the round at a roughly $750M valuation to fund multi-state expansion.
Spark Capital and existing investors backed the round as the network passed 26,000 providers.
Headway more than doubled its valuation and announced expansion into Medicare Advantage and Medicaid.
Headway began serving patients on Medicare Advantage and Medicaid, widening access for older and lower-income Americans.
Andrew Adams - Co-founder & CEO
Jake Sussman - Co-founder
Dan Ross - Co-founder
Kevin Chan - Co-founder (Engineering)
Adams has led the company through its scale-up from a New York startup to a national network valued in the billions.
Headway runs a marketplace that helps patients find therapists who accept their insurance, and helps those therapists handle credentialing, billing, claims, and scheduling so they can accept insurance without the administrative burden.
Headway earns an administrative fee from insurance companies on the claims it processes. Patients pay only their normal copay, and therapists pay nothing to join.
Because sessions are covered by insurance, patients typically pay only their copay - often under $30 - and Headway shows the exact amount before booking.
More than 40 plans including Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare and Optum affiliates, Oscar, Oxford, and select Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, with Medicare Advantage and Medicaid being added.
It operates in all 50 states with roughly 34,000 clinicians, processes around 300,000 appointments a month, and was valued at about $2.3 billion after its 2024 Series D.