SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 leads $80m series D in healthtech startup Pear

SoftBank’s second megafund, Vision Fund 2, has led the US$80 million series D funding round of US-based healthtech startup Pear Therapeutics.

The round was joined by existing investors including Temasek, 5AM Ventures, Arboretum Ventures, Jazz Venture Partners, Novartis, CrimsoNox, and EDBI. New backers Forth Management, Pilot House, Sarissa Capital, Shanda Group, and Quad Investment Management also followed on, according to a statement.

Photo credit: Pear Therapeutics

Founded in 2013, Pear Therapeutics offers a software-based digital therapeutics platform that combines digital interventions with drugs to enhance efficacy. It has a pipeline of products and product candidates across therapeutic areas, including three prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) which it claims is effective in disease treatment.

Its flagship product, reSET, is used for the treatment of substance use disorders. The company claims reSET was the first PDT to receive marketing authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration to treat it.

Pear will use the financing to accelerate reimbursement coverage for its commercial products, it said in the statement.

As part of the investment, SoftBank Investment Advisers partner Kirthiga Reddy is set to contribute to Pear as board observer. “We believe prescription digital therapeutics are creating a new category of medicine,” Reddy said.

Additionally, Nancy Schlichting, retired CEO of Henry Ford Health System, and SoftBank Investment Advisers investor Elena Viboch will be joining Pear’s board of directors.

The investment into Pear is the latest in Vision Fund 2’s investment spree this year. Last month, it led the US$180 million series C round of Chinese edtech startup VIPThink, and in September, it also led the US$100 million series C  financing of Singapore-born digital therapeutics startup Biofourmis. In May, the fund then went on to lead the US$500 million round of ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.