Sober Sidekick

What Sober Sidekick does

Sober Sidekick, operated by Empathy Health Technologies, Inc. and headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, is a mobile peer-recovery platform for individuals with substance use disorder and other behavioral addictions. The core product is a free, anonymous iOS/Android app that uses a proprietary routing engine called the Empathy Algorithm to match user posts with peers who have lived through similar experiences, with platform data showing an average of 6.8 responses per post and a 100% response rate. The app layers sobriety tracking, virtual AA/NA meetings, accountability partners, and a Pulse check-in module that captures structured engagement signals (Momentum, Stress, Recovery Capital). The company monetizes exclusively on the B2B side: health plans (Medicaid MCOs, Medicare Advantage, Commercial) embed the app as a member benefit and contract under value-based arrangements where revenue is tied to member recovery outcomes rather than relapse volume, addressing the structural incentive problem in the SUD treatment industry.

Beyond the consumer app, Sober Sidekick launched Nexus Telehealth in July 2024 through subsidiary Empathy Health Solutions LLC. Nexus is a clinician-led, EHR-integrated telehealth program that coordinates adult preventive care (AAP), maternal care (PPC), and behavioral health follow-up (IET, FUA, FUH, FUM) HEDIS measures for health plan members, with multi-modal outreach, live clinical transfers in 8 languages, ADT-triggered engagement, and asynchronous community check-ins between visits. Reported outcomes include a 97.6% accuracy rate for 14-day relapse forecasting (validated by Validation Institute), 68% stay-in-recovery across users, ~$4.4M in annual savings per 1,000 Medicaid members (validated by CHARM Economics), and 30,000+ care gaps closed across 6 states since launch.

The company is privately held and has raised approximately $12.6M across five rounds (2021–2025), most recently a $7.6M round in December 2025 led by HealthX Ventures. It has been the subject of a Harvard Business School case study, was named an Ernst & Young Innovator of the Year, was a 2025 Kraft Prize finalist, and operates with a leadership team anchored by founder and CEO Chris Thompson and COO Jordan Carlisle.

Name

Sober Sidekick

Legal name

Empathy Health Technologies, Inc.

Website

https://sobersidekick.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sober Sidekick is a mobile peer-recovery platform for individuals with substance use disorder, using a proprietary Empathy Algorithm to deliver 24/7 anonymous peer matching and relapse-risk prediction, monetized via value-based contracts with Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, and Commercial health plans.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Health / Behavioral Health

NAICS

Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers (621420)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLALAEAD

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) & Addiction Teletherapy Platforms

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Telehealth Platforms/Behavioral & Mental Health Teletherapy Platforms

SECONDARYHLAFACAN

Peer Support, Recovery Coaching & Sober Living Services

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Healthcare Providers & Systems/Behavioral Health & Substance Use Treatment

SECONDARYHLALABAF

Chronic Care & Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Platforms

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Telehealth Platforms/Provider-Integrated Virtual Care Platforms (Health Systems/Clinics)

Keywords

• Peer recovery platform
• Substance use disorder support
• Digital health app
• Telehealth services
• Addiction recovery community

Headquarters

HQ city

Bentonville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Health Plan / Payer B2B2C Partnerships: Sober Sidekick partners with community-based health plans in the U.S. (Medicaid MCOs, Medicare Advantage, Commercial). Health plans offer the app as an additional benefit to their members at no cost to the member. The company's business model is structurally aligned under value-based contracts — Sober Sidekick only succeeds when members stay in recovery, tying revenue to outcomes rather than volume.
2. Nexus Telehealth Services: Nexus is a licensed clinician-led telehealth program (provided by Empathy Health Solutions LLC) targeting health plan members with preventive, maternal, and behavioral health gaps. Billed as a clinical service to payers, with outcomes data shared to demonstrate HEDIS measure improvement and cost savings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Sober Sidekick is a mobile peer recovery platform that provides 24/7 anonymous community support for individuals in substance use disorder recovery. The platform uses a proprietary Empathy Algorithm to route user posts to peers with lived experience, ensuring every post receives a response from real people within minutes. The company also operates Nexus Telehealth, a turn-key clinical program offered to health plans that delivers coordinated preventive, maternal, and behavioral health visits via phone or video.

Product overview

Sober Sidekick is a peer recovery platform built by Empathy Health Technologies as a single unified product with an add-on telehealth module. The core Sober Sidekick App provides 24/7 anonymous peer support for substance use disorder recovery through the Empathy Algorithm, virtual AA/NA meetings, accountability partners, and sobriety tracking. Nexus Telehealth extends the platform for health plans as a turn-key module delivering coordinated preventive care, maternal health, and behavioral health visits — sharing the same underlying engagement engine and risk-prediction capabilities while adding EHR-integrated clinical documentation and payer-facing workflows.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Nexus Telehealth: Whole-person telehealth program offering adult preventive care, maternal care, and behavioral health follow-up services for health plans, delivered via a coordinated workflow with licensed clinicians, EHR-integrated documentation, and referral navigation.
• NexusCARE

Products and services

• Sober Sidekick App Free, anonymous mobile application providing 24/7 peer community support for substance use disorder recovery. Features the Empathy Algorithm routing posts to peers with lived experience, virtual AA/NA meetings on demand, accountability partner connections, sobriety tracking with milestone celebrations, and access to articles, meditations, and podcasts.
• Nexus Telehealth Turn-key clinician-led telehealth program for health plans delivering coordinated preventive, maternal, and behavioral health visits via phone or video. Includes multi-modal outreach, EHR-integrated documentation, real-time relapse-risk alerts, warm clinical transfers in 8 languages, ADT-triggered outreach, and asynchronous community check-ins between visits.

Quantifiable outcome

• 97.6% accuracy in 14-day relapse forecast (validated by Validation Institute)
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Arkansas Health & WellnesscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 July 2025Arkansas Health & Wellness, a health insurance administrator, partnered with Sober Sidekick to improve access to addiction recovery support for its members in Arkansas. The partnership focuses on reducing relapse rates and fostering a supportive community for those facing substance use disorders, with the app offered as an additional member benefit.
• CHARM EconomicscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCHARM Economics worked with Sober Sidekick using de-identified platform data from 394,100+ users to model relapse reduction rates and calculate economic impact. CHARM validated the ~$4.4M savings per 1,000 Medicaid members annualized figure, which is a cornerstone claim in payer sales conversations.
• Validation InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerValidation Institute independently validated Sober Sidekick's relapse reduction outcomes, including the 97.6% prediction accuracy and peer-engagement outcome curves. This third-party validation is prominently displayed on the company's Partners page as a trust signal for prospective payer customers.
• HMA & Wakely ActuarialcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHMA & Wakely (2023 ACA Claims analysis) validated Sober Sidekick's ~$2M savings per 1,000 members transitioned to recovery stability. This actuarial validation supports the company's value-based care pricing and payer contract structuring.
• Empathy Health Solutions LLCcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerNexus Telehealth services are provided by Empathy Health Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Empathy Health Technologies, Inc. dba Sober Sidekick. This subsidiary structure separates the regulated clinical telehealth service (Nexus) from the peer-support app business.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pelago (formerly Quit Genius): Pelago is a digital substance-use-disorder treatment platform serving employers and health plans with virtual care, coaching, and medication-assisted treatment. It is the closest direct peer to Sober Sidekick in terms of SUD focus, payer contracting, and outcomes-based pricing.
• Workit Health: Workit Health provides virtual SUD treatment including medication-assisted treatment and counseling, contracting with health plans and Medicaid. Its clinical model and value-based payer contracts mirror Sober Sidekick's enterprise motion.
• Boulder Care: Boulder Care is a telehealth provider focused on opioid use disorder and other SUDs, serving Medicaid and commercial payers with a value-based care model. Its peer support and clinical coordination closely parallel Sober Sidekick's Nexus offering.
• Ophelia: Ophelia provides telemedicine-based treatment for opioid use disorder, contracting with Medicaid and commercial health plans. It is a direct SUD-teletherapy peer competing for the same payer relationships.
• Ria Health: Ria Health is a telehealth program for alcohol use disorder combining medication, coaching, and digital tools. It overlaps with Sober Sidekick's SUD scope and health-plan distribution model.
• Confidant Health: Confidant Health offers virtual addiction treatment including medication-assisted treatment, peer recovery support, and home-based tools. Its peer-support + clinical hybrid model is comparable to Sober Sidekick + Nexus.
• Lionrock Recovery / Eleanor Health: Eleanor Health provides virtual and in-person SUD and mental health care with a value-based contract model. Its combination of peer recovery and clinical services maps closely to Sober Sidekick's architecture.

Broad incumbents

• Lyra Health: Lyra Health is a comprehensive mental-health benefits platform serving employers and payers with therapy, coaching, and medication management. It is a broader incumbent competing for the same behavioral-health wallet, including SUD-adjacent populations.
• Spring Health: Spring Health is a mental-health and well-being platform serving employers and payers, with growing SUD offerings. It is a broad incumbent with significant capital advantage over Sober Sidekick.

Emerging players

• WEconnect Health: WEconnect Health offers a peer-support mobile app for SUD recovery with accountability features. It is a niche player with partial overlap to Sober Sidekick's core peer-support app.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors13 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sober Sidekick