We are thrilled to announce our lead investment in Third Space, a Medicaid-focused mental health company serving the people who need it most.
America is in the midst of a mental health crisis, and unfortunately, the people bearing the heaviest burden are those who can least afford it. More than 1 in 3 nonelderly adults on Medicaid have a mental health condition, yet only ~33% of mental health providers accept Medicaid. This discrepancy in patient need and provider availability has directly led to millions of vulnerable patients waiting up to six months for their first appointment (an initial evaluation) at best, and, at worst, unable to obtain mental health care.
Third Space is solving this by training and upskilling therapists and matching them with underserved patients. The Company has a dual focus on Future of Work and Healthcare, two of our three core investment sectors. Taken together, Third Space is solving a massive, pressing, and insufficiently addressed problem – creating the opportunity to catalyze life-changing and wide-scale impact.
What does Third Space do
Third Space is a tech-enabled behavioral health platform built for the Medicaid population, directly addressing the critical shortage of mental health providers available to this underserved segment. The company recruits therapists, trains them, and matches them with patients. At its core, Third Space solves both sides of the access problem: giving therapists the infrastructure to build sustainable practices while providing Medicaid patients with timely, high-quality care.
For therapists, Third Space offers above-market compensation to do clinical work from day one, without administrative burden. The platform handles credentialing, billing, compliance, and documentation entirely, while providing personalized training, continuing education credits and an upwards career trajectory. This intentional design prevents the financial strain and burnout often seen in the industry, which is why a sizable pool of Third Space's therapists discovered the platform through word-of-mouth alone.
For patients, the experience is transformative. Instead of navigating ghost networks and lengthy waitlists, Medicaid patients can see a therapist as early as 48 hours from inquiry. The platform covers around 4.5 million Medicaid lives across Massachusetts, Colorado, Virginia, and Arizona, with total coverage around 17 million lives including Medicaid and commercial plans. Third Space has already demonstrated meaningful clinical outcomes: over 70% of patients have meaningful improvements in their depression and anxiety scores. The company has developed a highly efficient, community-driven patient acquisition model that drives intake at industry-leading low customer acquisition cost, becoming more effective with scale and creating an organic growth engine that is not reliant on capital-intensive paid channels.
How Zeal met Third Space
Zeal was introduced to co-founders and brothers Abhi and Akash Ghavalkar through two founders in our ecosystem, including one within our portfolio. Each introducer spoke highly of the brothers' unrelenting perseverance, operational abilities, and deep-seated desire to solve America's mental health crisis.
As immigrant and serial healthcare founders, the Ghavalkars are personally connected to the problem they're solving. Prior to discovering his passion for entrepreneurship, Abhi pursued professional soccer in the UK, but a career-ending injury gave him firsthand understanding of the importance of mental health and the barriers to accessing quality care.
The founding team's operational depth is anchored by Matt Milford, who scaled Foresight Mental Health from inception to Series C. Matt brings the operational playbook, health plan relationships, and deep understanding of the healthcare system. This combination of entrepreneurial grit, personal mission, and proven healthcare execution creates a uniquely qualified team to tackle one of America's most pressing challenges.
Looking Ahead
Third Space embodies the kind of company Zeal seeks to partner with: a team with grit and proven operational expertise, tackling a massive societal problem with a scalable, sustainable solution.
Additionally, the company sits at the intersection of two of our core investment categories – Future of Work and Healthcare – by reimagining how therapists build their careers while simultaneously expanding mental health care access for millions of underserved Americans.
With a business model that aligns financial incentives with social impact, Third Space has the potential to fundamentally reshape how mental health care reaches the Medicaid population.
We're proud to support Abhi, Akash, Matt, and the entire Third Space team as they work to close the care gap and build a more equitable mental health system.
Looking for a way to connect with Third Space? Presently, Third Space is looking to partner with:
- Health Plans interested in mental health partnerships for their Medicaid covered lives
- FQHCs, CHCs, and other community organizations to act as referral partners
- Therapists looking to make a meaningful difference while receiving best-in-class pay, supervision, and community, can apply directly via the Third Space website
- Open Roles. Third Space is actively hiring for a Head of Growth & Partnerships