Gambling addiction is surging, and the systems to support affected individuals are lagging. Legal sports betting has exploded across the U.S., with Americans expected to have placed nearly $1.5 billion in legal bets on this year’s Super Bowl. The ripple effects are already visible: in Arizona, regulators report sharp increases in calls to problem-gambling hotlines since legalization, as monthly betting volumes hit record highs. Public health experts now warn that online gambling is an imminent public health emergency that demands urgent, systemic solutions.

Yet for most people who need help, the choices remain limited: a hotline, a peer group, or an unspecialized therapy platform that isn’t designed for the compulsive and high-acuity nature of gambling addiction. 

That is why we led the seed round for Birches Health and are now reaffirming our belief in their $10M Series A. Birches Health is building a health assurance model for gambling addiction: proactive, accessible, and affordable care for those who need it most. As one of the first national virtual clinics purpose-built for gambling addiction, it delivers evidence-based therapy via clinicians trained in addiction protocols, supported by multimodal treatment and peer engagement. It is building what we believe has never existed before: a scalable system designed specifically for gambling addiction, anchored in measurable outcomes.

‍Building What Didn’t Exist

For decades, gambling addiction sat in the shadows of substance use disorders, recognized but rarely treated with the same seriousness. Clinicians weren’t trained for it, payors didn’t reimburse for it, and digital health platforms sent patients elsewhere. That absence left people with nowhere to turn, reinforcing shame, worsening outcomes, and increasing rates of suicidality. Birches Health was founded to change that. The company provides clinicians with complete infrastructure for gambling addiction treatment: credentialing, billing, scheduling, and specialized training. By making this care accessible at home, Birches Health has created one of the first scalable systems for patients who otherwise would have been left behind.

‍A Founder with Conviction

What impressed us about Elliott Rapaport, Birches’ founder and CEO, is his combination of speed and clarity. At Elemy, he launched and scaled new healthcare businesses, gaining a deep understanding of how to balance supply and demand in complex marketplaces. At Birches, he has applied those lessons with urgency, developing a national footprint in just two years and assembling a team singularly focused on gambling addiction. He is the kind of founder who is unafraid of tackling one of the most complex problems in behavioral health head-on.

“The United States is facing a looming gambling addiction crisis. By integrating with leading insurance companies and state Departments of Health, we are proving that access to specialized care for those struggling with gambling, gaming, sex, pornography, and internet addiction should be available to all.” - Elliott Rapaport 

The company is now expanding its reach, forging partnerships with payors and policymakers, and pushing gambling addiction into the center of the behavioral health conversation. From this vantage point, Birches  Health is positioned to extend into other behavioral addictions like gaming, pornography, and internet use, but the mission remains the same: deliver specialized, evidence-based care at scale.

Birches Health is proving that there is a better way to treat gambling addiction. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Elliott and his team as they build a new standard of care for a condition that has gone untreated for far too long.