Growth time has begun for a Richmond startup looking to provide answers on autism.
AnswersNow has closed an $850,000 seed funding round, co-founder Jeff Beck said, as it looks to scale its platform that matches parents of children with autism to clinicians for counseling.
On the platform, each parent is paired with a clinician who works with their child and can reach out for personalized support any time. Depending on the plan, the clinician can also check in once or several times per day. Other resources, like tips and strategies, are also available.
The funding round was led by Richmond-based venture capital group Trolley Ventures and California's Kapor Capital, the Kapor Center for Social Impact's investment division.
It's a long leap for AnswersNow, a Startup Virginia member that previously had raised $375,000 in angel funding in early 2018. Since then, it has amassed over 50 clinicians and 1,000 users.
With the funding, the startup plans to add more clinicians and expand its user base, as well as update its user-facing technology. Beck said a major goal is to have clinicians in every state by the end of 2019. It hired Jess Baldwin, who starts there July 8, as director of clinical services to lead that charge.
Beck said it is looking to extend the platform to adults on the autism spectrum as well.
"We heard from users that adults could find benefits from what we do, and we try to listen to our users and provide what it is they find useful," he said. "The clinicians remain the same, and that makes this expansion easily possible."
The startup was founded by Beck, a clinical social worker, and Adam Dreyfus, director of the Sarah Dooley Center for Autism at St. Joseph’s Villa. The idea bubbled into a business starting in 2016, going through Unreasonable Labs, Richmond's Lighthouse Labs and the Techstars-funded MetLife Digital accelerators.
Beck said the relatively slow scaling is necessary to ensure the platform covers all the bases.
"Different things bring different parents to the table, and we want to understand all those needs," he said. "We want to become synonymous with caregiver support."
