Gateway Learning Group has announced its rebrand to Kyo (“kai-oh”). In many ways, Kyo picks up exactly where the Gateway brand left off: the company’s founders, Colin Davitian and Melissa Willa, continue to execute upon their long-held mission to deliver top-notch services to children with autism. However, the Kyo rebrand also expands upon this vision and reflects the Company’s many recent achievements despite a turbulent 2020.
The Norwest Healthcare Team invested behind Kyo in mid-2019 with the goal of helping management expand their model to new regions in California and additional states with pressing needs for high-quality autism therapy. Children with autism were at that time, and remain, significantly under-served throughout the US. In 2020, the CDC reported that approximately 1 in 54 children in the US is diagnosed with autism, up from their 2018 estimate of 1 in 59. Prevalence has increased in this manner consistently over the last 10+ years. Meanwhile, the supply of autism therapy has also grown, but at a slower pace. In California, an early mover in autism therapy, significant wait times persist for families seeking services. Outside of California, many regions are much further from meeting demand. We expect that Covid-19 has only exacerbated this access deficiency nationally.
Through our initial meetings with Colin and Melissa in 2019, our team learned that Kyo had been providing autism therapy to families in California well before it was covered broadly by insurance. Since then, Kyo had served as an industry leader by growing healthily throughout the state and providing ever-greater access to care. We were compelled by Colin and Melissa’s extraordinary dedication to their clients and staff, data-driven approach to delivering therapy, and consistent track record in new regions. We came to believe that a partnership with Kyo would epitomize our central goal of investing behind healthcare businesses that “do well and do good”.
Following our investment, we have witnessed Kyo make crucial additions to their clinical and operational leadership teams, expand services to six new states, and launch powerful scheduling software tools developed in-house. Amid Covid-19, Kyo’s leadership adapted swiftly to telehealth-based services, doubled-down on the excellence of their staff, and charged ahead with their growth plans. In December, Kyo welcomed virtually the first graduates of their Autism Leadership Academy, an innovative training program preparing high-performing BCBAs for regional leadership. Meanwhile, the team at Norwest has helped recruit energetic Scientific Advisors and Board Members to the platform who have added value both commercially and clinically.
With this rebrand, Kyo celebrates these successes and communicates to clients and other stakeholders its mission with greater clarity. Kyo’s services are effective, convenient, and child-centric. Kyo’s staff works to deliver powerful results for families via personalized therapy designed with empathy, innovation, and passion. Kyo’s ultimate goal is to make every moment count, as demonstrated by its industry-leading commitments to quality and outcomes. The Company enters 2021 poised to continue delivering on its mission, serving clients across 12 metropolitan areas in the West and Southwest US.
We are extremely proud of Kyo’s progress to date and congratulate Colin, Melissa, and the entire Kyo team on their brand launch. We eagerly look forward to their successes to come.
To read Kyo’s press release and learn more about their programs and approach, please visit kyocare.com
