Cerula Care Raises $3.7 Million Oversubscribed Seed Round to Transform Collaborative Behavioral Healthcare for Oncology Patients

A collaborative, team-based approach to providing unique cancer-specific behavioral health and care navigation to people undergoing cancer treatment.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a strong launch in 2024 with three large oncology practices, Cerula Care, a new oncology behavioral health and care navigation company, announced an oversubscribed Seed funding round of $3.7 million. The round was led by Esplanade Ventures, with participation from Amplify Capital, BrightEdge (the innovation and impact investment arm of the American Cancer Society), DigiTx Partners, SpringTime Ventures, and Mike Pykosz (former CEO and co-founder of Oak Street Health). The new funding will be used to expand services to more practices and invest further in patient-facing technology.

"At Esplanade Ventures, we invest in and empower founders that are solving meaningful gaps in healthcare and have a proven ability to execute.  Having supported family members in their cancer journey, Cerula Care's vision and mission resonated with us instantly, and we are incredibly proud to partner with Supriya and Kyle. As a platform purpose-built for cancer patients, Cerula Care and its co-founders are uniquely positioned to become leaders in the cancer behavioral health space and transform the challenging journey for millions of patients," says Ella Seitz, Esplanade Ventures Managing Partner and Cerula Care board member.

Twenty-two million people in the US have cancer and over 85% suffer from unique unmet behavioral health needs, causing unsatisfactory cancer outcomes, excess utilization, and lower survival rates.  Cerula Care seamlessly integrates with oncology groups to provide personalized, virtual-first, behavioral health and care navigation solutions – including counseling, health coaching, and psycho-oncology – to improve health outcomes for people living with cancer.

"BrightEdge is committed to investing in companies that have the potential to drive impact for cancer patients and help fulfill the American Cancer Society's vision of ending cancer as we know it, for everyone," said Stephen Curtis, Senior Director of New Ventures at BrightEdge. "We know that most people diagnosed with cancer experience symptoms of anxiety or depression, and that feelings of loneliness are linked to poorer outcomes. We are excited to support Cerula Care as they work collaboratively with providers to bring critical behavioral health resources, which have been shown to improve quality of life, to cancer patients."

The company's innovative care model involves the whole Cerula Care team working in concert with the oncology team to ensure that every patient has comprehensive coverage across cancer, behavioral health, and care navigation.

"When someone is going through one of the scariest moments of their life – being told they have cancer – they get an oncologist focused on eradicating the cancer.  However, the whole journey truly changes someone's outlook on life, and no one is currently focused on improving the patient's mental health.  Cerula Care exists to help everyone going through the cancer journey have a better quality of life and ensures one coordinated team with their oncologist," says Supriya Laknidhi, Cerula Care co-founder and CEO.

With this collaborative, team-based approach, Cerula Care has already shown outstanding clinical outcomes.  Patients have seen a statistically significant improvement in somatic symptoms, quality of life, anxiety, and depression within three months in care – all leading to greater adherence to their cancer care plan and a decrease in unwanted hospitalizations.  Additionally, oncologists have found tremendous value in having an extension of their team focused on their patient's behavioral health and care navigation needs.

"Cerula Care is making my job a lot easier because it goes back to that team aspect, where we have many people specialized in whatever the patient needs, whether it's cancer and taking care of the physical symptoms or emotional or mental symptoms that come with a diagnosis like that. That's where Cerula Care becomes an invaluable part of our team." says Timothy Finnegan, M.D., oncologist at Cone Health.

The Seed round follows a strong Pre-Seed round with Flare Capital Partners, Healthworx Accelerator, and One Mind as participating investors.

About Cerula Care

Cerula Care is the first cancer-focused collaborative behavioral health and care navigation company that seamlessly integrates with oncology practices and is focused on improving quality of life and health outcomes for people living with cancer. For more information, visit cerulacare.com.

SOURCE Cerula Care