Digital mental health company Curio FZ LLC has acquired Nora Mental Health, an outpatient therapy franchisor.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The fusion of the two companies brings the service of each organization into a new space: Curio’s services will now be available to those engaging in in-person care, while Nora Mental Health has additional access to telehealth and other technologies. It’s not clear when exactly the deal closed.
Curio will continue to grow the Nora Mental Health franchise footprint, according to a news release. Founded in 2018 by Dr. Cullen Hardy, Nora Mental Health began its franchise campaign in 2022. It lists 24 open locations in 16 states, according to its website.
“Nora has built something rare in behavioral health: a clinic model that is clinically excellent, locally rooted, and genuinely scalable,” Shailja Dixit, CEO and founder of Curio FZ’s parent company Curio Digital Therapeutics, said in the release. “By bringing Nora into the Curio platform, we can expand access to care in dozens of new communities, support a thriving network of clinicians and franchise operators, and connect every client to a continuum of care that meets them where they are — whether that’s in a clinic, on their phone, or both.”
Curio will also provide Nora Mental Health and its franchisees to expanded support, marketing, payer relationships and clinical resources.
Before the deal, Curio’s business was focused on telehealth and other digital tools to support specific aspects of womanhood — specifically fertility, pregnancy/postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause. Nora Mental Health’s services are more general. A previous franchise disclosure document from Nora states that it provided therapy (individual, group and couples) and worked with enterprises via employee assistance plans (EAPs).
Franchising is an extant but small part of the behavioral health industry. Other mental health-focused franchisors include Innova Franchising, Nexus Counseling Services and Lifeologie Counseling. The largest and most notable of this provider type is Ellie Mental Health, a company that has struggled to make its franchise model financially viable. On top of that, several franchisees have sued or have been sued by Ellie Mental Health. The driving question is whether or not Ellie lived up to its obligations to provide the shared services it promised.
Curio Digital Therapeutics is backed by venture capital firms and raised $10 million in 2024. RYSE Asset Management, ONCE, Bridge Point Capital and Avestria participated in the round.