MoneyStack Raises $1 Million to Integrate Financial Counseling Into Behavioral Healthcare
MoneyStack, a financial counseling platform designed for behavioral healthcare, has raised $1 million in new funding to expand access to specialized financial support for people experiencing mental health conditions, addiction and other behavioral health challenges. The financing was led by Cistern Capital, with participation from the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Funds, O’Shaughnessy Ventures, Sidecut Ventures, Gaingels and angel investors.
The latest funding brings MoneyStack’s total capital raised to nearly $2 million. The company plans to use the financing to expand its technology and services while integrating financial counselors more deeply into behavioral healthcare programs.
MoneyStack’s approach is based on the premise that financial instability can be both a consequence and a contributor to behavioral health challenges. By placing dedicated financial counselors within healthcare programs, the company aims to help patients and their families address debt, taxes, financial planning and other sources of financial distress that can interfere with treatment and recovery.
Addressing the Financial Side of Behavioral Health
Behavioral healthcare programs traditionally focus on clinical symptoms and treatment. However, patients dealing with mental health conditions, substance use disorders, gambling addiction and other behavioral health challenges can also experience significant financial consequences.
MoneyStack was founded to address this gap by bringing financial counseling into the healthcare environment rather than treating financial problems as a separate issue.
“MoneyStack started with a gap I experienced firsthand between the financial support people need and what they’re often offered,” said Alex De Marco, founder and CEO of MoneyStack. “That gap becomes even more consequential when a financial crisis is tied to a behavioral health condition like gambling addiction. Clinical teams treat the disorder. Nobody addresses the debt, the tax issues, and a broken relationship with money — the factors that pull people back to gambling and sports betting. This funding lets us put financial counselors inside more programs.”
According to MoneyStack, the relationship between financial health and behavioral health can operate in both directions. Financial problems can contribute to stress and declining mental health, while mental health and behavioral health conditions can make it more difficult for individuals to manage money, maintain employment or avoid damaging financial behaviors.
Research cited by the company indicates that 86% of people with lived experience of mental health problems reported that their finances had made their mental health worse. At the same time, 72% said their mental health problems had negatively affected their finances.
These figures highlight the interconnected nature of financial and behavioral health challenges and the potential importance of addressing both areas during treatment and recovery.
Financial Distress Can Complicate Recovery
Financial problems can include unpaid bills, excessive debt, tax obligations, damaged credit, loss of income and difficulty managing household expenses. For individuals and families already coping with behavioral health conditions, these pressures can create additional barriers to recovery.
MoneyStack argues that financial counseling can help patients understand and address these issues while they are receiving behavioral healthcare. Instead of waiting until financial problems become severe, counselors can work with individuals to establish financial plans, understand their obligations and develop strategies for managing money.
The need for this type of support extends across several areas of behavioral health, including mental health conditions, substance use, addictions and impulse-control disorders.
Financial strain can also have implications beyond behavioral health. A 2025 study involving more than 280,000 adults found that financial strain and food insecurity were among the strongest social determinants associated with accelerated cardiac aging. Financial strain was also associated with increased mortality risk.
The findings underscore how financial circumstances can intersect with broader health outcomes, reinforcing the potential value of approaches that address social and economic factors alongside conventional healthcare services.
Gambling Addiction Highlights the Connection
MoneyStack is placing particular emphasis on gambling addiction, where financial problems can be directly connected to the behavior being treated.
Unlike many other behavioral health conditions, gambling disorder involves money as a central component of the addictive behavior. Individuals may accumulate debt, borrow money, sell assets or experience significant household financial disruption while attempting to continue gambling or recover previous losses.
According to data cited by MoneyStack from the National Problem Gambling Helpline’s 2025 annual report, financial struggles were mentioned in 73% of conversations with the helpline, making financial difficulties the most frequently reported reason for contacting the service.
The scale of gambling-related harm is also significant. The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that approximately 2.5 million U.S. adults have a severe gambling problem, while another 5 million to 8 million adults experience mild or moderate gambling-related problems.
The potential consequences can extend well beyond financial losses. A 2024 study cited by MoneyStack found that people with gambling disorder died by suicide at approximately five times the rate of the general population.
For healthcare providers treating gambling disorder, these circumstances can make financial counseling an important component of a broader recovery strategy. Addressing debt and financial instability does not replace clinical treatment, but MoneyStack’s model is designed to address financial factors that may otherwise remain outside the treatment process.
Expanding GamFin and Financial Counseling Technology
A portion of MoneyStack’s new funding will support continued development of technology designed specifically for financial counseling within behavioral healthcare.
The company highlighted GamFin, its offering focused on gambling addiction, as an important part of its expansion strategy. MoneyStack intends to build on its experience working directly with clients and healthcare organizations to develop tools that can extend financial counseling beyond one-on-one interventions.
One area of development involves financial transaction data. MoneyStack plans to explore how transaction information could help identify early signs of financial harm.
The goal is to enable counselors and clients to recognize concerning patterns before they develop into major financial crises. Rather than relying exclusively on patients to report financial difficulties after significant damage has occurred, technology could potentially help counselors identify warning signs earlier and support proactive intervention.
The company said it intends to translate years of hands-on counseling experience and client data into scalable tools that can support a broader population.
Investment Supports Preventive Healthcare Approach
The investment also reflects growing interest in healthcare models that address social and economic factors affecting patient outcomes.
Lisa Suennen, managing partner of American Heart Association Ventures, said the increasing availability of legalized gambling and mobile betting has contributed to rising exposure to gambling-related financial stress.
“Rates of gambling are increasing rapidly, driven by widespread legalization and mobile betting. The resulting financial stress can lead to depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions, all of which increase risk of developing cardiovascular disease,” Suennen said. “MoneyStack’s approach to addressing financial health alongside behavioral health strongly aligns with the Social Impact Funds focus on moving upstream to improve health and opportunity.”
The American Heart Association’s participation reflects an interest in addressing factors that can influence health before they contribute to more serious disease or healthcare needs.
For MoneyStack, financial counseling represents one way to intervene earlier in the cycle connecting financial distress, behavioral health and broader health outcomes.
Cistern Capital Leads New Funding
Cistern Capital led the $1 million financing through its wellness investment activities. The firm described MoneyStack as its first investment in Cistern Wellness Ventures II.
“You cannot fully treat gambling addiction while leaving someone buried in debt, tax problems and financial instability,” said Nate Kline, founder and managing general partner of Cistern Capital. “MoneyStack brings financial care directly into the recovery process, addressing financial and emotional wellness together. That is exactly the kind of preventive, holistic innovation we believe will help move healthcare from treating symptoms to creating better, more durable outcomes.”
The investment provides MoneyStack with additional capital to expand its platform and pursue relationships with healthcare organizations and other stakeholders.
Working With Behavioral Healthcare Providers and Payers
MoneyStack does not operate solely as a consumer financial counseling service. The company contracts with behavioral health providers, state agencies and other third-party payers to integrate specialized financial counseling into existing care programs.
This model allows financial counseling to become part of an established behavioral healthcare pathway rather than requiring patients to locate separate financial assistance independently.
For healthcare providers, integrating financial support may offer a way to address practical challenges that can affect treatment participation and recovery. For patients and families, it can provide access to professionals who understand the financial consequences associated with behavioral health conditions.
As MoneyStack expands, the company is positioning financial health as an additional component of comprehensive behavioral healthcare. Its strategy combines direct counseling with technology designed to make financial support more scalable and potentially identify financial harm earlier.
The $1 million financing gives MoneyStack resources to continue developing this model, with a particular focus on gambling addiction through GamFin and on technology that can connect financial data with behavioral healthcare.
By bringing financial counselors into existing treatment programs, MoneyStack aims to address an often-overlooked dimension of behavioral health: the financial instability that can both result from a condition and make recovery more difficult.
About MoneyStack
MoneyStack is the financial counseling platform for behavioral healthcare. Its platform is purpose-built to support clients navigating financial distress alongside behavioral health challenges, starting with gambling addiction. GamFin, its proprietary suite of products and services for gambling addiction, runs on the platform.
By incorporating financial counseling into behavioral healthcare treatment, individuals experiencing an emotional crisis from financial issues recover faster, and payers’ lower overall healthcare costs and risks. MoneyStack is a member of the Techstars Economic Mobility Accelerator class of 2023. Investors include Cistern Capital, the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Funds, Sidecut Ventures, O’Shaughnessy Ventures, Gaingels, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, The Fintech Fund, Techstars, and angel investors. For more information on MoneyStack, visit https://www.moneystack.com/.
About Cistern Capital
Cistern Capital, “The Wellness VC,” backs early-stage companies redefining healthcare by helping reverse chronic disease, extend healthspan, and improve human wellbeing. Across its funds, Cistern has made 30+ pre-seed and seed-stage investments spanning eight targeted wellness dimensions: physical, financial, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, occupational, and environmental. Cistern is led by Nate Kline, the solo GP, 5x founder, and Inc.
5000 honoree with prior experience at Fortress Investment Group and Merrill Lynch. Nate invests behind the inevitable shift from sick care to proactive, consumer-driven health and the companies helping more people live 100+ healthy years. Learn more at cistern-capital.com.
About the American Heart Association Social Impact Funds
The American Heart Association’s Social Impact Funds support for-profit and nonprofit organizations that know their community best and whose ideas accelerate innovation to address local community and national health challenges. With a focus on driving equitable health and expanding access to capital, the Funds focus on overcoming barriers to healthcare access and quality, food security and economic vitality — social factors that have a direct correlation to cardiovascular risk, health outcomes and longevity. The Social Impact Funds are part of American Heart Association Ventures, the venture capital platform of the American Heart Association. Learn more at heart.org/socialimpactfunds.