Q4 2022 - Market Update
Insights on mental, behavioral, & brain health innovation
Some of our thoughts on 2022 & the outlook for 2023 - in no particular order
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Funding for mental health innovation will remain strong – According to numerous sources, appetite to invest in mental, behavioral, and brain health startups remains strong. Of course, recession fears will raise the bar for Contact us for information on 2022 mental health funding.
Effects of the looming U.S. recession - Probability of a meaningful downturn in the next 12 months is at 65%, according to Goldman Sachs and other banks and this will have various consequences for mental health startups
While recession’s exacerbate mental health difficulties across a population, it will likely put pressure on household budgets, which will in turn reduce the average consumer’s willingness to pay for services and products offered by mental health startups.
As a consequence, DTC mental health startups will focus more on B2B (employers and other enterprise buyers), but employers are overwhelmed with digital health vendors and will scrutinize new vendors due to reduced budgets in light of the recession
Failure to grow will reduce the ability to raise capital, and ultimately lead to these startups being acquired.
Mental health & media – Consumer engagement with mental health-focused content will continue to increase.
The hashtag #mentalhealth on TikTok has 66 billion views. For context, TikTok only launched in the US six years ago.
While 84% of mental health content on TikTok is “misleading” (link), mental health content on TikTok will continue to increase and will be a crucial marketing channel for any startup marketing to users under 30.
Selena Gomez’s Wondermind, mental fitness content platform, raised $5 million at a $100 million valuation
MyndStories launched in India, India’s first platform for verified, accurate mental health content
Psych Hub, a mental health educational content platform, raised $16M from HC9 and Frist Cressey Ventures
TV shows are increasingly addressing mental illness (link)
Generative AI & mental health – Right now, AI-based tools are used address various painpoints in healthcare. Examples include revenue cycle management, patient engagement, and decision support for clinicians, but the role of AI will expand. Despite warranted pushback from mental health clinicians and skeptics, AI-based tools will increasingly be leveraged to deliver care, despite robust evidence regarding outcomes. At GIMBHI, we’ve explored the future of generative AI and mental health. Feel free to contact us about learning more about the intersection of mental health & generative AI at research@gimbhi.com
AI-based based chatbots will be used for therapy, given cost of mental healthcare and clinician shortages (link)
Wysa raises $20M to expand its therapist chatbot (link)
iNonymize - A tele-mental health platform that uses generative AI avatars for preserving a person’s privacy and identity while allowing for expressivity
With advances in language learning models such as GPT-3 and the advent of video-based generative AI, these technologies will be used for mental health and wellness applications and will achieve fast consumer adoption.
Data privacy pushes by regulation, not consumers – Despite media coverage of consumer fears regarding data privacy, those fears rarely turn into meaningful action. Mental health startups certainly face headline risk regarding data privacy. But simply showing a commitment to patient data privacy and privacy is sufficient for most younger consumers - data privacy will not be a strong selling point. Nevertheless, scrutiny and ultimately regulation around patient data privacy will come from the government.
Clinician shortages and workforce challenges remain – This will result in more innovation surrounding workforce challenges, clinician burnout, and unionization efforts.
Resilience Lab is the first mental health startup to see its workforce unionize (link)
Vitalize Care is addressing mental health for healthcare workers.
Mental health startups addressing specific populations:
BIPOC – Reklame Health, Sanarai
Women – LunaJoy
Youth (pediatric & adolescent)
Men – Man Therapy
LGBTQ – Folx Health
Cancer Patients – Rocket VR Health