AppliedVR Secures $29 Million in Series a Funding to Make Virtual Reality the Standard of Care for Chronic Pain

By AIT News Desk On Mar 24, 2021

New funding enables AppliedVR to pursue FDA approval, prep for market launch and continue building body of clinical trial evidence

AppliedVR, a pioneer advancing the next generation of digital medicine, announced $29 million in series A funding, bringing its total funds raised to date to $35 million. The round, which includes key investors F-Prime Capital, JAZZ Venture Partners, Sway Ventures, GSR Ventures, Magnetic Ventures and Cedars-Sinai, will fuel the company’s growth as it pursues full FDA approval over the next year.

“As a leading evidence-backed VR therapeutics provider in healthcare, we’re committed to meaningfully improving the lives of people suffering from chronic pain by making VR the standard of care for treating chronic pain in a provider-prescribed, payer-reimbursed model.”

AppliedVR provides virtual reality-based treatments aimed at comprehensively treating chronic pain. Combining well-established cognitive behavioral therapies with mindfulness exercises, the company’s EaseVRx solution recently became the first virtual reality (VR) prescription therapeutic to receive Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for treatment-resistant fibromyalgia and chronic intractable lower back pain. The company also just released results from its pivotal eight-week randomized clinical trial, finding that the EaseVRx device produced “clinically meaningful” improvement in multiple pain outcomes, and had high participant satisfaction and engagement.

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“Chronic pain is one of the most common medical conditions in the world, yet it still is incredibly debilitating to patients, costly to the system and complex to treat. While our mission has always been to demonstrate that VR can be a powerful analgesic in any setting, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a surge in demand for digital medicines like VR that can be delivered safely to patients in their own homes,” said Matthew Stoudt, co-founder and CEO of AppliedVR. “As a leading evidence-backed VR therapeutics provider in healthcare, we’re committed to meaningfully improving the lives of people suffering from chronic pain by making VR the standard of care for treating chronic pain in a provider-prescribed, payer-reimbursed model.”

Affecting approximately one-third of all Americans¹, chronic pain is estimated² to cost as much as $635 billion each year, making it more expensive than cancer, heart disease and diabetes combined. While most people, especially seniors, have relied on pharmacological interventions to treat their pain, digital therapeutics like VR have emerged as an effective, safe, and potentially cost-saving solution. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for more digital therapeutic treatments that can be delivered safely in patients’ homes.

“We’re big believers in the potential for digital therapeutics to transform outcomes for patients with challenging conditions, and we have been closely evaluating the market for solutions for some time. AppliedVR stood out as a great choice for our first prescription digital therapeutics investment,” said Jon Lim, partner at F-Prime. “With its market potential, solid executive team, and commitment to providing evidence-based therapies, we’re confident that AppliedVR will become a leader in digital medicine.”

AppliedVR’s technology is already trusted by more than 200 of the top healthcare provider organizations in the world, including Geisinger and Cleveland Clinic, who are advancing separate NIDA-funding clinical trials to study VR as an opioid-sparing tool for acute and chronic pain. The company also has partnered with University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) to study how digital therapeutic platforms, including virtual and augmented reality, can be used to improve care access for underserved populations. AppliedVR also is engaged with multiple payers, testing VR as a cost-effective solution for treating chronic pain.

AppliedVR’s program has been used to help more than 60,000 patients to manage their expectations of pain. With today’s investment, the company plans to continue EaseVRx’s FDA approval pathway, conduct more payer pilots, develop its product pipeline, and build out its clinical, marketing and sales teams. AppliedVR also was just named as a 2021 Fast Company Most Innovative Company in the augmented and virtual reality category.