Learn to Live Raises $1 Million Round of Funding Led by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Funding Will Enable Continued Growth of Mental Health Mission, Expansion of Technology Platform and Increased Market Presence

Minneapolis, January 5, 2016. Learn to Live — a Minnesota online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy company — has raised over $1 million led by Minnesota’s largest health plan, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross). Blue Cross contributed a significant share to the raise, with additional funds coming from TreeHouse Health, Matchstick Ventures and several angel investors, including Daren Cotter, CEO of InboxDollars.

The financing will be used to fund an expansion of Learn to Live’s technology platform, extend their market reach, and further their mission of reaching people suffering from social anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions with their revolutionary, low-cost and highly effective self-help programs.

Learn to Live and Blue Cross participate in TreeHouse Health, an innovation center designed to invest in emerging companies and facilitate innovation between large and emerging players in the industry. 

Learn to Live was launched in 2013 by CEO Dale Cook and Co-Founder and Chief Psychology Officer Dr. Russ Morfitt. After proving their model directly with consumers, the company began selling directly to employers, universities and healthcare providers this year. The company’s unique delivery, combined with leading edge engagement and accountability tools, has produced engagement rates six times the industry average for their clients, compared to the industry average of 1% - 5% engagement.

“Blue Cross believes the work of the Learn to Live team closely aligns with our own mission of making a healthy difference in people’s lives,” said John Uribe, vice president of business development at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “The self-directed nature of Learn to Live’s technology platform offers a new approach for helping people address depression, social anxiety and like conditions. Blue Cross is committed to investing in emerging business models that expand choice while advancing shared health goals.”

“Our team is honored to have such highly respected investors behind us,” says CEO Dale Cook. “The financing and the experience they bring in healthcare, technology and consumer-focused offerings will enable us to expand our services to members and to continue to improve the technology we use to deliver these services."

About Learn to Live

Learn to Live provides online self-help programs to address psychological problems such as depression, social anxiety, stress, anxiety and worry. Learn to Live is part of an exciting movement within behavioral health, providing lower cost but highly effective methods of web-based healthcare treatment. The programs are modeled on over a decade of clinical research that demonstrates that internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (“iCBT”) is as effective as face-to-face therapy. In addition to providing programs directly to consumers, Learn to Live partners with large self-insured employers and health care providers who can benefit from the low-cost delivery model, their behavior tracking capabilities, data analytics, and powerful program outcomes. Find out more online at https://www.learntolive.com or follow Learn to Live on Twitter (@LearntoLiveCBT) and Facebook.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

For more than 90 years, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (bluecrossmn.com) has supported the health, wellbeing and peace of mind of our members by striving to ensure equitable access to high quality care at an affordable price. We are on a mission to inspire change, transform care and improve health for the people and communities we serve by reinventing both ourselves and the broader system. Our more than 2.5 million members can be found in every Minnesota county, all 50 states and on four continents. As a proud nonprofit organization, we believe working to advance wellness for all Minnesotans is the greatest investment we can make. Our goal is nothing less than for everyone to be able to achieve their full health potential, regardless of race or other socially defined circumstances. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, which serves more than 107 million members across the U.S.