Healthcare · Profile from Healthcare Research Companion
Cerebral, Inc.
The San Francisco tele-mental-health start-up that sold psychiatric medication management and therapy as a cheap monthly subscription, rode a pandemic-era DEA waiver to national scale and a ~$4.8bn valuation in under three years, and then became the defining enforcement case of the digital mental-health boom. Pharmacies refused its stimulant prescriptions, its founder-CEO was ousted, it disclosed that tracking pixels had sent data on ~3.2m people to advertisers, and in 2024 it paid the FTC ~$7m and signed a DOJ non-prosecution agreement that bars it from prescribing controlled substances. Since 2025 a much smaller "Cerebral 2.0" has rebuilt around insurance-paid therapy and non-stimulant psychiatry, and in 2026 it bought an ADHD coaching app to re-enter ADHD care without stimulants.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2019, San Francisco (tracking tools on its sites were live from 12 October 2019, per its later breach notice; national subscription service launched around January 2020, verify exact launch date)
- Founders
- Kyle Robertson (CEO 2019–May 2022) and Ho Anh (co-founder, per company and press accounts). Dr David Mou, a psychiatrist, joined early as chief medical officer and is sometimes described as a co-founder (verify)
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California (remote-first clinical workforce across US states)
- Ownership / structure
- Private, venture-backed. Clinical care is delivered through affiliated professional corporations under a management services (MSO) arrangement, the standard corporate-practice-of-medicine structure (section 20)
- Leadership (2026)
- Brian Reinken, CEO since March 2025 (former board member, initially interim). Earlier: Kyle Robertson (2019–May 2022), David Mou MD (May 2022–early 2025; reported as stepping down December 2024 or March 2025, sources differ)
- Segment and buyer
- Digital mental health: psychiatric medication management, therapy and care coordination for depression, anxiety, insomnia, ADHD (non-stimulant since 2022) and other conditions. Originally paid by consumers by subscription; since 2023–25 increasingly billed to commercial insurers (in-network) and some public plans
- Scale
- Not disclosed in audited form. Its 2023 breach notice covered 3,179,835 people who had used its sites or apps since October 2019 (HHS filing, March 2023), which gives a sense of reach. After its August 2025 acquisition of Resilience Lab, Cerebral said the combined company was in network with plans covering 100m+ commercial members (company statement, reported)
- Capital raised / valuation
- ~$487m in total equity (reported, incl. a ~$25m raise in September 2025). Peak valuation ~$4.8bn after a $300m Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (December 2021). Later valuations not disclosed and almost certainly far lower
- Regulatory record
- DOJ (EDNY) non-prosecution agreement, November 2024: $3.65m forfeiture plus a $2.92m fine deferred on ability to pay (total exposure ~$6.57m), and a permanent stop to controlled-substance prescribing. FTC order, April 2024: ~$7m (≈$5.1m consumer refunds plus a $10m civil penalty suspended to $2m), and a ban on using most health data for advertising. New York Attorney General: ~$740,000 over billing for services not delivered (reported, verify date)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and $85-a-month subscription psychiatry (2019–20); SoftBank Series C and celebrity marketing blitz (2021); stimulant-prescribing crisis and pharmacy cut-offs (2022); founder ouster and controlled-substance exit (2022); opioid-use-disorder programme launched and closed within months (2022–23); tracking-pixel disclosure (2023); FTC privacy and cancellation order (2024); DOJ non-prosecution agreement (2024); "Cerebral 2.0" insurance pivot and Resilience Lab (2025); Inflow acquisition and ADHD re-entry without stimulants (2026)
10 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2019
Founding and Subscription Psychiatry
Founding / launch
2021
SoftBank Series C and Marketing Blitz
Funding round / go-to-market
2022
Founder Ouster and Controlled Substance Exit
Restructuring / leadership change
2022
Opioid Use Disorder Program Launch and Closure
Launch / reversal
2022
Stimulant Prescribing Crisis and Pharmacy Cutoffs
Crisis / failure (channel loss and federal investigation)
2023
Tracking Pixel Data Disclosure
Privacy breach / disclosure
2024
DOJ Non Prosecution Agreement
Regulatory settlement (criminal resolution)
2024
FTC Privacy and Cancellation Order
Regulatory settlement
2025
Insurance Pivot and Resilience Lab
Pivot / acquisition / funding
2026
Inflow Acquisition and ADHD Reentry
Acquisition / relaunch