FronteraCare Expands Autism Services in Underserved New Mexico
September 12, 2025
Frontera launches Diagnostics Program and expands FronteraCare clinics across the state, reducing wait times for families
Frontera, a pioneer in advancing health equity through AI-enabled autism care, today announced the expansion of its services in New Mexico and the launch of its FronteraCare. For years, autism care has been plagued by long waitlists, fragmented care, and delays in diagnosis and treatment. These barriers prevented children from getting access to care they needed and hindered their long-term development. These issues are more severe in rural areas across New Mexico, with limited providers and long travel distances adding to delays in care. Frontera CEO Amol Deshpande and Jeff Flores, CEO of MECA Therapies in Las Cruces, met several years ago and knew there had to be a better way to deliver care to families. They co-founded the services arm of Frontera and launched in New Mexico in 2023. Their shared goal was to address systemic issues plaguing the treatment of autism. Today’s announcement will expand Frontera’s footprint in the state, serving the communities of Santa Fe, Espanola, Las Cruces, Pueblo, Roswell, Hobbs, Alamogordo, Clovis, Santa Teresa, and Hatch. These services are part of the newly launched and rebranded FronteraCare, a clinician-led network that combines the best of technology and local services to transform autism care. “For decades I’ve served rural communities and seen firsthand that families have to wait too long for autism diagnosis, and treatment,” says Jeff Flores, Co-Founder of Frontera and CEO of MECA Therapies. “What excites me about Frontera’s technology is that we’re applying these innovative solutions to solve real problems for real New Mexico communities.”
Since launching in New Mexico, Frontera saw its model benefiting local families through reduced travel, faster care, and increased capacity from clinicians. By combining the power of innovative technology and culturally informed care, Frontera strives to significantly reduce the wait time to diagnosis and treatment. “Frontera is committed to using the power of technology to deliver tangible results to rural and underserved communities,” said Amol Deshpande, CEO and Co-Founder, Frontera, and a parent to a son with autism. “Every child throughout New Mexico deserves timely access to care and FronteraCare will help make that possible.”
Frontera is on a mission to use AI to facilitate health equity and is committed to ensuring every child gets timely and affordable access to care. To learn more or request a demo, visit www.fronterahealth.com. Business Wire
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FronteraCare Expands Autism Services in Underserved New Mexico

Frontera , a pioneer in advancing health equity through AI-enabled autism care, today announced the expansion of its services in New Mexico and the launch of its FronteraCare.  For years, autism care has been plagued by long waitlists, fragmented care, and delays in diagnosis and treatment. These barriers prevented children from getting access to care they needed and hindered their long-term development. These issues are more severe in rural areas across New Mexico, with limited providers and long travel distances adding to delays in care.  Frontera CEO Amol Deshpande and Jeff Flores, CEO of MECA Therapies in Las Cruces, met several years ago and knew there had to be a better way to deliver care to families. They co-founded the services arm of Frontera and launched in New Mexico in 2023. Their shared goal was to address systemic issues plaguing the treatment of autism.  Today's announcement will expand Frontera's footprint in the state, serving the communities of Santa Fe, Espanola, Las Cruces, Pueblo, Roswell, Hobbs, Alamogordo, Clovis, Santa Teresa, and Hatch. These services are part of the newly launched and rebranded FronteraCare, a clinician-led network that combines the best of technology and local services to transform autism care.  "For decades I've served rural communities and seen firsthand that families have to wait too long for autism diagnosis, and treatment," says Jeff Flores, Co-Founder of Frontera and CEO of MECA Therapies. "What excites me about Frontera's technology is that we're applying these innovative solutions to solve real problems for real New Mexico communities."  Since launching in New Mexico, Frontera saw its model benefiting local families through reduced travel, faster care, and increased capacity from clinicians. By combining the power of innovative technology and culturally informed care, Frontera strives to significantly reduce the wait time to diagnosis and treatment.  "Frontera is committed to using the power of technology to deliver tangible results to rural and underserved communities," said Amol Deshpande, CEO and Co-Founder, Frontera, and a parent to a son with autism. "Every child throughout New Mexico deserves timely access to care and FronteraCare will help make that possible."  Frontera is on a mission to use AI to facilitate health equity and is committed to ensuring every child gets timely and affordable access to care.  To learn more or request a demo, visit www.fronterahealth.com  About Frontera Health  Frontera is transforming autism care in underserved communities with AI-powered tools that help clinicians diagnose and treat children with autism and related disorders more efficiently. Backed by investors including Lux Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Inspired Capital and Menlo Ventures, Frontera empowers providers to reduce time to care and increase accessibility for families in need.  View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250909467279/en/  Contacts  media@fronterahealth.com

Frontera Expands Autism Services in New Mexico with New FronteraCare for Underserved Communities

For years, autism care has been plagued by long waitlists, fragmented care, and delays in diagnosis and treatment. These barriers prevented children from getting access to care they needed and hindered their long-term development. These issues are more severe in rural areas across New Mexico, with limited providers and long travel distances adding to delays in care.  Frontera CEO Amol Deshpande and Jeff Flores, CEO of MECA Therapies in Las Cruces, met several years ago and knew there had to be a better way to deliver care to families. They co-founded the services arm of Frontera and launched in New Mexico in 2023. Their shared goal was to address systemic issues plaguing the treatment of autism.  Today's announcement will expand Frontera's footprint in the state, serving the communities of Santa Fe, Espanola, Las Cruces, Pueblo, Roswell, Hobbs, Alamogordo, Clovis, Santa Teresa, and Hatch. These services are part of the newly launched and rebranded FronteraCare, a clinician-led network that combines the best of technology and local services to transform autism care.  "For decades I've served rural communities and seen firsthand that families have to wait too long for autism diagnosis, and treatment," says Jeff Flores, Co-Founder of Frontera and CEO of MECA Therapies. "What excites me about Frontera's technology is that we're applying these innovative solutions to solve real problems for real New Mexico communities."  Since launching in New Mexico, Frontera saw its model benefiting local families through reduced travel, faster care, and increased capacity from clinicians. By combining the power of innovative technology and culturally informed care, Frontera strives to significantly reduce the wait time to diagnosis and treatment.  "Frontera is committed to using the power of technology to deliver tangible results to rural and underserved communities," said Amol Deshpande, CEO and Co-Founder, Frontera, and a parent to a son with autism. "Every child throughout New Mexico deserves timely access to care and FronteraCare will help make that possible."  Frontera is on a mission to use AI to facilitate health equity and is committed to ensuring every child gets timely and affordable access to care.  To learn more or request a demo, visit www.fronterahealth.com  About Frontera Health  Frontera is transforming autism care in underserved communities with AI-powered tools that help clinicians diagnose and treat children with autism and related disorders more efficiently. Backed by investors including Lux Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Inspired Capital and Menlo Ventures, Frontera empowers providers to reduce time to care and increase accessibility for families in need.

For years, autism care has been plagued by long waitlists, fragmented care, and delays in diagnosis and treatment. These barriers prevented children from getting access to care they needed and hindered their long-term development. These issues are more severe in rural areas across New Mexico, with limited providers and long travel distances adding to delays in care. Frontera CEO Amol Deshpande and Jeff Flores, CEO of MECA Therapies in Las Cruces, met several years ago and knew there had to be a better way to deliver care to families. They co-founded the services arm of Frontera and launched in New Mexico in 2023. Their shared goal was to address systemic issues plaguing the treatment of autism. Today's announcement will expand Frontera's footprint in the state, serving the communities of Santa Fe, Espanola, Las Cruces, Pueblo, Roswell, Hobbs, Alamogoro, Clovis, Santa Teresa, and Hatch. These services are part of the newly launched and rebranded FronteraCare, a clinician-led network that combines the best of technology and local services to transform autism care. "For decades I've served rural communities and seen firsthand that families have to wait too long for autism diagnosis, and treatment," says Jeff Flores, Co-Founder of Frontera and CEO of MECA Therapies. "What excites me about Frontera's technology is that we're applying these innovative solutions to solve real problems for real New Mexico communities." Since launching in New Mexico, Frontera saw its model benefiting local families through reduced travel, faster care, and increased capacity from clinicians. By combining the power of innovative technology and culturally informed care, Frontera strives to significantly reduce the wait time to diagnosis and treatment. "Frontera is committed to using the power of technology to deliver tangible results to rural and underserved communities," said Amol Deshpande, CEO and Co-Founder, Frontera, and a parent to a son with autism. "Every child throughout New Mexico deserves timely access to care and FronteraCare will help make that possible." Frontera is on a mission to use AI to facilitate health equity and is committed to ensuring every child gets timely and affordable access to care. To learn more or request a demo, visit www.fronterahealth.com. About Frontera Health Frontera is transforming autism care in underserved communities with AI-powered tools that help clinicians diagnose and treat children with autism and related disorders more efficiently. Backed by investors including Lux Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Inspired Capital and Menlo Ventures, Frontera empowers providers to reduce time to care and increase accessibility for families in need.

Autism AI startup raises $32M, moves into LoDo office
Amol Deshpande’s son was struggling. At 2 years old, he was nonverbal, toe walking and wouldn’t respond to his name. The now-13-year-old was eventually diagnosed with autism. But figuring that out was a struggle too. “It was very hard to find somebody who had expertise in this, who could diagnose it, who could do it in a relatively expeditious manner such that we could do the early intervention that we knew was so critical,” he said. “So we were hodgepodging what we could together, trying to get a diagnosis. It was a very challenging process.”
The entrepreneur, who founded the ag-tech firm Farmers Business Network, ended up paying around $5,500 for a private diagnosis. The full report came eight weeks after the process started. Still, the therapies paid off. “Today, he talks better than 54% of kids,” he said. “You wouldn’t usually say, ‘Oh, your kid’s in the 54th percentile on something, and that’s the most amazing thing.’ But it’s someone who never spoke, and now they speak better than 54% of most kids.”
Many families can’t afford that cost in money or time. So, in 2023, Deshpande founded Frontera to help clinicians diagnose more kids faster. The company recently raised $32 million, backed by coastal firms Lux Capital, Lightspeed, Bison Ventures, Menlo Ventures and Inspired Capital. “The therapies and the interventions work, yet most of the people who need them don’t get them,” he said. “And I know that the health care system has a lot of that, but I would say in the early childhood development space and in autism, it is probably most severe when you look at the seriousness of the condition.”
Frontera uses its artificial intelligence software to assess and help diagnose children with potential developmental delays at a fraction of the price and time . Deshpande said its software can infer and draw conclusions from behaviors, much like a clinician would, and package them into complex reports. “And what that does is it gets leverage to that clinician who has 10 times more demand than they could meet,” Deshpande said. “If we can get the report writing and other stuff down, then they can take more cases.”
The technology can also process video from therapy sessions. Clinicians can record using a phone or tablet, and Frontera will analyze everything from speech, movement and interactions with people and toys. “For the first time ever, you can extract clinical data from video. So, you take a video of a child in therapy, and you can extract 30 frames a second of data points,” Deshpande said. “And what that means is a level of precision and data that was never before even close to possible.”
Grant Sickle, left, and Amol Deshpande during a demo of Frontera’s tech. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
“Instead of a clinician perhaps overseeing 15 clients, we want to get to a place where they can oversee 30 or 60, but not (have) any more stress on them,” said Grant Sickle, Frontera’s director of product. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics , around 9% of children have a developmental disability. Deshpande said around 3% to 5% of boys are diagnosed with autism. Many of those kids could spend up to a year on wait lists to diagnose their delays. “I actually think the problem is massively underestimated … because when you get an early intervention done with a kid, that affects the next 90 years of their life,” Desphande said. “We have a lot of drugs under development for Alzheimer’s and dementia to extend useful life by a couple of years, but there isn’t a single drug under development for a 2-year-old who doesn’t talk,” he added. “That child will need complete care for the rest of their lives if there’s no intervention.”
Deshpande said most of the $32 million raised will go toward tech development. Though the service already operates profitably, he said bettering it requires hiring more people and upping computing power. “There’s a long way to go to get the cost down, to continue to improve the efficacy of the technology on an accuracy basis, and build those modules we talked about,” he said. “But we’re very confident at this point that that’s where we’re headed.”
This isn’t the first health-tech venture for Deshpande. Through his family office, Divergent Investments, he has helped finance several medical startups, including Soar Autism Center, a care facility with several locations in Colorado and Arizona, and Manatee, a Denver company that helps streamline family mental health care. He moved to Denver in 2022 from San Francisco, citing a Bay Area “buzz” that never quite returned to its pre-pandemic levels. He also said the Mile High environment was better for his two sons, who were going into their preteen years. “There is vibrancy in terms of the talent pools, but there’s also a lot of frivolousness and flakiness,” he said of the Bay Area, where he lived for 15 years. “People switch jobs monthly, almost, it feels like. You’re the next hot thing, or you’re not the next hot thing. I think there is a sanctity to building here that is different, and I’ve actually really enjoyed it.”
Deshpande started Farmers Business Network, the agricultural e-commerce firm, in 2014. Though he left in early 2023 before starting Frontera, he still is a shareholder. Before that, he worked for VC firm Kleiner Perkins in the Bay Area. “I’ve been an early-stage entrepreneur almost my whole life, and FBN was an opportunity to build and grow a huge business. We were 1,000 employees when I left,” Deshpande said. “We’re ramping up here. I think (Frontera) will be bigger.”
The company uses a consumption pricing model rather than a subscription, and Deshpande said he is making it available to anyone who wants it — even potential competitors. “If someone’s going to try to get more kids into care, get them diagnosed, we will make sure that they have access to this technology on reasonable terms,” he said. In the future, he sees the company delving into all types of behavioral health issues. But for now, not even a month out of stealth, the company is focusing on tackling the diagnosis that sparked its founding. “The early childhood issues tend to be in the shadows relative to issues of the brain with the elderly or other types of issues like obesity or cancer, which people are very public about,” he said. “Autism is wrought with conspiracy theories and random points of view, and it lacks precision. I think if we bring precision to it, it’ll change the game.”
Inside Frontera’s new office at 1517 Blake St. in Denver. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Deshpande and Frontera moved into a 6,700-square-foot office early last month at 1517 Blake St. in LoDo. It has about 30 employees and plans to double that number by the end of the year, according to Sara Williams, who leads human resources for the company. Frontera signed a two-year lease and was represented by Matt Groppenbacher and Matt Harbert of JLL. Ana Sandomire of NAI Shames Makovsky represented the landlord. Deshpande said being near Union Station is a plus, and noted that Ibotta recently signed a 10-year lease for space down the street at 16 Market Station. “My hope is that a handful more startups open up around here,” he said. “Something like Ibotta, which went public, will mint some wealthy people. And they’ll go start companies, and they’ll invest in others. That’s the vibrancy that Denver needs. In San Francisco, they have that in spades. We need that here.”
Frontera founder Amol Deshpande stands outside the company’s new downtown Denver office. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Amol Deshpande’s son was struggling. At 2 years old, he was nonverbal, toe walking and wouldn’t respond to his name. The now-13-year-old was eventually diagnosed with autism. But figuring that out was a struggle too. “It was very hard to find somebody who had expertise in this, who could diagnose it, who could do it in a relatively expeditious manner such that we could do the early intervention that we knew was so critical,” he said. “So we were hodgepodging what we could together, trying to get a diagnosis. It was a very challenging process.”
The entrepreneur, who founded the ag-tech firm Farmers Business Network, ended up paying around $5,500 for a private diagnosis. The full report came eight weeks after the process started. Still, the therapies paid off. “Today, he talks better than 54% of kids,” he said. “You wouldn’t usually say, ‘Oh, your kid’s in the 54th percentile on something, and that’s the most amazing thing.’ But it’s someone who never spoke, and now they speak better than 54% of most kids.”
Many families can’t afford that cost in money or time. So, in 2023, Deshpande founded Frontera to help clinicians diagnose more kids faster. The company recently raised $32 million, backed by coastal firms Lux Capital, Lightspeed, Bison Ventures, Menlo Ventures and Inspired Capital. “The therapies and the interventions work, yet most of the people who need them don’t get them,” he said. “And I know that the health care system has a lot of that, but I would say in the early childhood development space and in autism, it is probably most severe when you look at the seriousness of the condition.”
Frontera uses its artificial intelligence software to assess and help diagnose children with potential developmental delays at a fraction of the price and time . Deshpande said its software can infer and draw conclusions from behaviors, much like a clinician would, and package them into complex reports. “And what that does is it gets leverage to that clinician who has 10 times more demand than they could meet,” Deshpande said. “If we can get the report writing and other stuff down, then they can take more cases.”
The technology can also process video from therapy sessions. Clinicians can record using a phone or tablet, and Frontera will analyze everything from speech, movement and interactions with people and toys. “For the first time ever, you can extract clinical data from video. So, you take a video of a child in therapy, and you can extract 30 frames a second of data points,” Deshpande said. “And what that means is a level of precision and data that was never before even close to possible.”
Grant Sickle, left, and Amol Deshpande during a demo of Frontera’s tech. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
“Instead of a clinician perhaps overseeing 15 clients, we want to get to a place where they can oversee 30 or 60, but not (have) any more stress on them,” said Grant Sickle, Frontera’s director of product. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics , around 9% of children have a developmental disability. Deshpande said around 3% to 5% of boys are diagnosed with autism. Many of those kids could spend up to a year on wait lists to diagnose their delays. “I actually think the problem is massively underestimated … because when you get an early intervention done with a kid, that affects the next 90 years of their life,” Desphande said. “We have a lot of drugs under development for Alzheimer’s and dementia to extend useful life by a couple of years, but there isn’t a single drug under development for a 2-year-old who doesn’t talk,” he added. “That child will need complete care for the rest of their lives if there’s no intervention.”
Deshpande said most of the $32 million raised will go toward tech development. Though the service already operates profitably, he said bettering it requires hiring more people and upping computing power. “There’s a long way to go to get the cost down, to continue to improve the efficacy of the technology on an accuracy basis, and build those modules we talked about,” he said. “But we’re very confident at this point that that’s where we’re headed.”
This isn’t the first health-tech venture for Deshpande. Through his family office, Divergent Investments, he has helped finance several medical startups, including Soar Autism Center, a care facility with several locations in Colorado and Arizona, and Manatee, a Denver company that helps streamline family mental health care. He moved to Denver in 2022 from San Francisco, citing a Bay Area “buzz” that never quite returned to its pre-pandemic levels. He also said the Mile High environment was better for his two sons, who were going into their preteen years. “There is vibrancy in terms of the talent pools, but there’s also a lot of frivolousness and flakiness,” he said of the Bay Area, where he lived for 15 years. “People switch jobs monthly, almost, it feels like. You’re the next hot thing, or you’re not the next hot thing. I think there is a sanctity to building here that is different, and I’ve actually really enjoyed it.”
Deshpande started Farmers Business Network, the agricultural e-commerce firm, in 2014. Though he left in early 2023 before starting Frontera, he still is a shareholder. Before that, he worked for VC firm Kleiner Perkins in the Bay Area. “I’ve been an early-stage entrepreneur almost my whole life, and FBN was an opportunity to build and grow a huge business. We were 1,000 employees when I left,” Deshpande said. “We’re ramping up here. I think (Frontera) will be bigger.”
The company uses a consumption pricing model rather than a subscription, and Deshpande said he is making it available to anyone who wants it — even potential competitors. “If someone’s going to try to get more kids into care, get them diagnosed, we will make sure that they have access to this technology on reasonable terms,” he said. In the future, he sees the company delving into all types of behavioral health issues. But for now, not even a month out of stealth, the company is focusing on tackling the diagnosis that sparked its founding. “The early childhood issues tend to be in the shadows relative to issues of the brain with the elderly or other types of issues like obesity or cancer, which people are very public about,” he said. “Autism is wrought with conspiracy theories and random points of view, and it lacks precision. I think if we bring precision to it, it’ll change the game.”
Inside Frontera’s new office at 1517 Blake St. in Denver. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Deshpande and Frontera moved into a 6,700-square-foot office early last month at 1517 Blake St. in LoDo. It has about 30 employees and plans to double that number by the end of the year, according to Sara Williams, who leads human resources for the company. Frontera signed a two-year lease and was represented by Matt Groppenbacher and Matt Harbert of JLL. Ana Sandomire of NAI Shames Makovsky represented the landlord. Deshpande said being near Union Station is a plus, and noted that Ibotta recently signed a 10-year lease for space down the street at 16 Market Station. “My hope is that a handful more startups open up around here,” he said. “Something like Ibotta, which went public, will mint some wealthy people. And they’ll go start companies, and they’ll invest in others. That’s the vibrancy that Denver needs. In San Francisco, they have that in spades. We need that here.”
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Autism AI startup raises $32M, moves into LoDo office

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Digital Health 50: The most promising digital health startups of 2025

The digital health collection includes vendors developing software, platforms, sensor & robotic hardware, health data infrastructure, and tech-enabled services in healthcare. The list excludes pureplay pharma/biopharma, sequencing instruments, gene editing, and assistive tech.

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Frontera provides AI-assisted clinical report automation within the behavioral health domain. The company offers software solutions for ABA assessment reporting and diagnostic report building for clinicians, utilizing AI to improve processes. Frontera's services are aimed at supporting ABA practitioners, clinical psychologists, and healthcare providers. It was founded in 2023 and is based in Denver, Colorado.

Date	2/14/2025
Round	Seed VC
Amount	$32M
Investors	Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lux Capital, Bison Ventures, Inspired Capital, and Menlo Ventures
Valuation	$XXM
Revenue	0 FY undefined
Sources	4

First funding	Last Funding	Investor	Rounds	Type	Location
2/14/2025	2/14/2025	Lux Capital	1 Seed VC	Venture Capital	New York
00/00/0000	00/00/0000	Inspired Capital	Subscribe to see more	Venture Capital	New York
00/00/0000	00/00/0000	Bison Ventures	Subscribe to see more	Venture Capital	Washington
00/00/0000	00/00/0000	Menlo Ventures	Subscribe to see more	Venture Capital	California
00/00/0000	00/00/0000	Lightspeed Venture Partners	Subscribe to see more	Venture Capital	California

First funding	2/14/2025	00/00/0000	00/00/0000	00/00/0000	00/00/0000
Last Funding	2/14/2025	00/00/0000	00/00/0000	00/00/0000	00/00/0000
Investor	Lux Capital	Inspired Capital	Bison Ventures	Menlo Ventures	Lightspeed Venture Partners
Rounds	1 Seed VC	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Board Seats
Type	Venture Capital	Venture Capital	Venture Capital	Venture Capital	Venture Capital
Location	New York	New York	Washington	California	California

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Frontera

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