Investing in Avela Health

We are excited to announce our investment in Avela Health’s Seed round. The round was led by Rethink VC. We are equally excited to join our good friends (and early Avela backers) K Ventures with this investment.

Avela Health is building a whole-family autism care program for low to moderate acuity children, teens, and adults. Their clinically validated, virtual care model serves as an alternative to intensive ABA therapy for those patients who will benefit from a lighter-touch care approach.

‍The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder has been rising for the better part of a decade. As our understanding of neurodiversity has grown, so has the need for care. Unfortunately, current autism care is slow, rigid, and incredibly burdensome on families. Wait times for child cases can stretch north of 12 months, delaying early support at the most critical time. Once in care, many patients are funneled into intensive clinic-based programs that can be overwhelming and debilitating for families to manage. Meanwhile, Payors continue to shoulder upwards of $45K in annual ABA costs per child. There are few, flexible alternatives for low-moderate acuity cases.

‍Avela takes a different approach. It offers a six-month, virtual, family-centered autism program targeting those for whom ABA therapy may not be necessary. Built on evidence-based care, their model blends play-based and routine-embedded interventions within structured behavioral and cognitive frameworks, pairing live clinician sessions with async, on-demand support. Families can start care within weeks (not months) and receive care tailored to their child’s age, acuity, and daily schedule. After the intensive phase, families can step down to a lighter-touch support tier, preserving continuity while reducing cost and familial burden.

‍Avela is led by Robin Ann McIntosh, a 4x healthcare founder who previously raised >$150m while at Workit Health. She is  joined by longtime operator Kate Monti and Dr. Cynthia Anderson, one of the most cited researchers in autism care and the architect of Avela’s care model.

‍After spending the past year researching the autism space, we feel that Avela has both the right ‘care model’ and the right team to build a unique solution that expands autism care to those that are looking for ABA alternatives. We are honored to partner with the Avela team as they work to make autism care more accessible, flexible, and aligned with the needs of families.

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Black Jays Ventures is an early-stage VC fund investing in trusted products and services that address the modern needs of families.