Outro, a neuroscience-based healthcare platform focused on helping people safely discontinue psychiatric medications, has raised $7 million across pre-seed and seed funding rounds.
The funding includes participation from Listen Ventures, Cake Ventures, Jason Calacanis’s LAUNCH, Actions Capital, Hannah Grey VC, SemperVirens, Brock Recovery Group, Pave Health Ventures and other investors.
Outro is focused on addressing a growing gap in mental healthcare: helping patients who want to reduce or stop long-term psychiatric medications with clinical support and evidence-informed guidance.
The company said approximately one in six Americans take an antidepressant, while the average duration of use has grown to more than five years. Outro also points to research from co-founder Dr. Mark Horowitz showing that four in five long-term antidepressant users were unable to stop taking their medication because of withdrawal symptoms.
The company focuses on “deprescribing,” which refers to the planned reduction or discontinuation of medications when clinically appropriate. Outro said deprescribing is not widely covered in medical training, leaving many patients and doctors without clear guidance for managing medication withdrawal.
“Only a few years ago, it was considered taboo to even talk openly about mental health,” says Brandon Goode, co-founder and CEO of Outro. “Today, patients are asking a different question: if starting medication deserves support, why does stopping often happen without it? We’ve built the on-ramp for medications. Now it is time to build the off-ramp.”
“With approximately 50 million Americans taking antidepressants, the lack of safe, effective, accessible ways to stop remains an overlooked healthcare gap,” says Ellen Wilcox, Partner at Listen Ventures. “At Listen, we invest by listening to consumers first, and we’re hearing a clear demand for patients to have more choice and clinical guidance in managing their medications. Outro is building the infrastructure, therapeutic options, and support for deprescribing, starting with antidepressants — a model we believe will become a standard part of modern healthcare.”
“Deprescribing guidance has existed in countries like the U.K. for years,” says Dr. Mark Horowitz, Outro’s co-founder and one of the world’s leading researchers on safely stopping psychiatric medications. “Yet in America, where antidepressant use is widespread, tapering support is very hard to come by, so millions of patients are left without support when they are ready to come off. As someone personally impacted by a lack of tapering guidance, I am proud to be building a service to bridge this gap.”
Outro’s platform combines specially trained clinicians, evidence-informed tapering protocols, patient monitoring, psychosocial support and technology designed specifically for medication discontinuation.
The company is starting with antidepressants and plans to expand its approach to additional drug classes. Its Taper Management program is currently available in 14 U.S. states.
The new funding will be used to expand Outro’s network of deprescribing clinicians, develop AI-powered tools for deprescribing workflows, expand its tapering model into additional medication classes and strengthen partnerships with universities and advocacy organizations.
Founded by health tech entrepreneur Brandon Goode and Dr. Mark Horowitz, Outro is headquartered in New York and is building an integrated network focused on supporting people who want to safely discontinue unnecessary medications.
