Startup Ideas: Wellness Apps & Mental Health Tech
Note: This Venturescale Trends report is part of the Startup Ideas & Trends Library, which covers topics such as 🤖AI SaaS, ✍️Creator Economy, 🔵Web3 Startups, and the 🚀Unbundling of the Internet.
As a consumer, getting the help you need to overcome stress, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder is easier than ever before. You can find online therapists using BetterHelp, get depression medicines delivered through Ro Mind, video chat with psychiatrists using Talkiatry, or find peer support via Togetherall.
New startups are tackling mental health issues through (1) unbundling of healthcare, (2) unlocking accessibility and affordability, (3) building an integrated mental healthcare ecosystem, and (4) enterprisation of consumer services.
We’ll examine consumer-facing mental health platforms — and reveal exciting opportunities to monetize and win in this space.
8 Mental Health Market Trends 🧠
(1) VC funding in the mental health space is exploding:
- Globally, mental health startups raised $6.9 billion across 350 deals in 2021, up 3x from 2020 ($2.3 billion funding & 258 deals).
- 2021 funding by regions: U.S. mental health startups raised $4.5 billion; European startups raised $651 million; Asian startups raised $289 million.
(2) Mental health startups are scoring mega-rounds (above $100M) in 2021:
- BetterUp in online therapy, raised $300 million Series E.
- Cerebral in telemental health, raised $300 million via SoftBank.
- Elemy in autism care, raised $219 million via SoftBank.
- Workit Health in addiction treatment, raised $118 million Series C.
(3) Alternative treatment for depression and anxiety:
- New players are entering the space by using non-traditional medication to treat mental health conditions.
- Mindbloom treats anxiety, stress, and depression with science-backed psychedelic medicine and therapy.
- Field Trip Health offers ketamine-assisted psychotherapy programs to improve anxiety and depression symptoms.
- Deja & Peak + Valley offers natural, ayurvedic, adaptogenic herbs and mushrooms to reduce stress, boost focus and promote calmness.
more…
(🔒 Full version) +5 more key trends in the Mental Health space. These insights will help you capture specific customer needs:
🔑 (4/8) What kind of product categories attract acquirers? (3 company examples)
🔑 (5/8) What kind of mental health apps are the most profitable? (10 app examples)
🔑 (6/8) Emerging market players and how they differentiate to compete internationally? (4 company examples)
🔑 (7/8) How do new startups enter untapped market opportunities? (3 company examples)
🔑 (8/8) What new business models are becoming popular? (3 company examples)
🔥 Unlock the full-report & databases :::
Key Players, Competitors & Databases 🗂
Find market niches, discover similar competitors, and explore ways to differentiate your new ideas:
- 🏢 Total 123 company examples across Mental Health space
- 🔖 Total 9 positioning categories
- 🗃 Company databases: value proposition, website, stage, total funding raised, year founded, company size, and location.
- 👌 Filter competitors by categories. Or search by product name, country, funding stage, etc.
- (Members-only access)
7 Profitable Problems to Solve 🔬
(1) Lack of real patient outcomes:
- Pharmaceutical solutions typically suppress the symptom rather than treat the root cause. Antidepressants also cause withdrawal symptoms and long-term side effects.
- Psychedelic treatment is four times more effective than traditional antidepressants.
- Nue Life Health and Journey Clinical solve this by using Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.
- Compass pathway solves this by using psilocybin therapy found in medicinal mushrooms.
(2) Mismatch of patients and providers:
- Up to 79% of antidepressants are prescribed by primary care providers rather than psychiatrists who are specialized in mental illness treatment.
- Hospitals don’t provide enough therapy/psychiatry services due to a severe shortage of therapists.
- Brave Health uses data-driven, evidence-based assessment to match users to the right providers and treatment.
- BetterHelp and DoMental match therapists with patients through virtual platforms.
(🔒 Full version) +5 more well-defined market needs in the space. Solving the right problems will help you build something people want:
🔑 (3/7) How to use software to lower the costs of mental healthcare? (4 company examples)
🔑 (4/7) Which sub-sector is not obvious but has massive market needs? (3 company examples)
🔑 (5/7) How to solve mental health crisis using online communities? (2 company examples)
🔑 (6/7) How to address underserved markets and which target audience to focus on? (5 company examples)
🔑 (7/7) How to position a new mental health platform in emerging markets?
4 Ways to Generate Income Streams 🤑
(1) Direct-to-consumer (D2C):
- The revenue source of the D2C model comes from end consumers paying for the services.
- Why shifting costs to end-users is better? Companies don’t have to “wait” for insurance companies to provide the best care. As a result, consistent costs and quality control.
- Ro Mind costs $85/month that includes online assessment for anxiety and depression, customized treatment plans, prescription medication, ongoing check-ins, and self-guided virtual sessions.
- Cerebral charges users an $85/month subscription for assessments, video/phone appointments with therapists, ongoing counseling, and medication delivery.
more…
(🔒 Full version) +3 more business models and revenue sources implemented by market players:
🔥 Unlock the full-report & databases :::
New Startup Opportunities & Predictions
(1) API-driven mental healthcare:
- The global healthcare API market is estimated to reach USD 351.68 million by 2028.
- Solutions that provide better data flow across the mental healthcare ecosystem will increase workflow productivity and fill the gap for “low code” automation.
- Use cases include: (1) integrate wearable data and share with practitioners for precise treatment (2) help clinicians streamline appointments, payments, and medical records (3) help insurance providers work with businesses.
- Kintsugi’s voice biomarker API provides practitioners with real-time patients’ mental health scoring and integrates across clinical call centers, telehealth platforms, and remote patient monitoring apps.
(2) Decentralized clinic model:
- Consumer adoption in telehealth has increased 35x since COVID-19, signaling the demand for accessible virtual care, assessment, and treatment.
- More solutions are needed to help clinicians “decentralize” their practices, and bypass dependency on authorities, protocols, institutions, and intermediaries.
- Use cases include: (1) prescription administration (2) clinical assessment (3) data verification (4) insurance claim.
- Journey takes care of the pharmacology side and allows psychotherapists to offer legal ketamine therapy treatments.
more…
(🔒 Full version) +6 more untapped market needs & future market trends to watch:
🔑 (3/8) How can mental health apps monetize better using a data-driven model? (2 company examples)
🔑 (4/8) The future of mental health treatment is “no pills”. How exactly emerging players are tapping into this space? (3 company examples)
🔑 (5/8) What product strategy can be applied to increase precision in diagnosis and treatment? (3 company examples)
🔑 (6/8) How to build the future of community-based mental health platforms? (2 company examples)
🔑 (7/8) What are the niche categories to consider when creating mental health solutions? (3 company examples)
🔑 (8/8) How to create new products by solving adjacent problems in the market? (2 company examples)
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