Mental Health Meets Tech

By Rania Borgani

Content Warning: Mentions of various mental illnesses including anxiety and depression.

It’s almost oxymoronic to say more screen time is better for your mental health. But for tech companies working towards improving the emotional wellbeing of their customers, the statement rings true.

Currently, many apps exist that help people address mental health concerns. One popular type of app focuses on self-management, allowing users to insert information and receive feedback; for instance, the app SanVello offers users daily mood tracking, guided journeys, and progress assessments. There are also apps that give users coping or thinking skills to help with their mental health. One example is MoodMission which gives users strategies to overcome feelings of depression and anxiety. Finally, many apps currently exist where users can talk with trained professionals. These apps, like Talkspace, offer guidance and online therapy sessions from licensed therapists.

Perhaps the most successful mental health app on the market today is the Calm app. Calm offers a variety of meditation, breathing, and calming exercises, providing help for those struggling with insomnia, anxiety, depression, focus, and more. Calm has attracted the attention of many celebrities, with some recorded sleep stories featuring the voices of Harry Styles, Idris Elba, and Bob Ross, among others. It has a reportedly easy-to-use interface — which is especially important when creating an app intended to decrease stress — and tracks statistics like consecutive days used, minutes meditated, amount of sessions, etc.

But, make no mistake, Calm is not another form of social media. While some health apps, especially fitness, allow for more social components like the ability to follow friends, Calm explicitly does not have this feature. Rather than framing the app through a more social lens, creators of Calm focus only on the support aspect, eliminating any added stress that comes from social media-like features.

While perhaps not the first to market, Calm has led the way for other startups within the mental health space. It was the “first ‘unicorn’ mental health-oriented start-up” to reach a milestone valuation of more than $1 billion. In December of 2020, it raised $75 million in Series C funding, giving Calm a valuation of $2 billion. This achievement signals a growing trend within VC firms to invest in mental health-related companies.

Toward the end of 2020, venture capital funding of US mental health startups exceeded that of 2019. Funding in 2020 was $1.37 billion whereas $1.06 billion was invested in 2019. Given the new demand for mental health services in the beginning of the pandemic, many mental health companies made their online platform temporarily free. The freemium model is hotly debated within the world venture capital. In 2010, companies like Dropbox demonstrated the validity of giving away products for free. A few years later, investors began doubting the business freemium model especially since companies tend to miscalculate their numbers. And yet, when the pandemic hit, companies like Zoom — boasting a freemium service — raised an IPO of $356.8 million.

So what exactly do VC firms like abut the freemium model? Ideally, business freemium models mean the acquisition cost of a single user is low and becomes increasingly lower through word of mouth or viral marketing. Additionally, a good platform using freemium services offers users an easy and compelling way to purchase extra features for the app. Calm is no exception.

With the number of people seeking mental health being on the rise these past years — and skyrocketing in March 2020 — many startups have been trying to replicate Calm’s success. The impact of COVID-19 on mental health is evident in the amount of capital invested in mental health tech startups. For example, Lyra Health (a company that helps workplaces with improving emotional health) doubled its membership in 2020 to 1.5 million, closing with $110 million in Series D funding in freemium020. Furthermore, in May, Amwell (a telehealth company) raised $194 million, only to receive an IPO of $742 million four months later. In fact, mental health based services are so in demand, some VC firms are entirely focused on mental health investments.

One example of such a firm is What If Ventures, interested in “the supply of affordable, effective solutions”. Having launched in the early months of 2020, What If Ventures has over 3600 syndicate members and 13 companies in their portfolio including Ellipsis Health. Ellipsis Health is an example of an online mental health platform. Deemed a “revolutionary tool for behavior health”, the company helps those with undiagnosed/unrecognized behavioral health conditions like depression and anxiety. Through the use of machine-learning techniques, Ellipsis Health analyzes “acoustics and words in natural speech to uncover depression and anxiety symptoms”. Many citizens in the United States remain undiagnosed and thus do not know they should seek treatment. Companies like Ellipsis Health are working to combat this. Certain features of AI help facilitate diagnosis procedures. For example, the anonymity of AI means patients are less embarrassed to open up and reveal their personal struggles. AI treatments also come at a lower cost. However, hacking and privacy breaches are a concern when it comes to AI platforms. Machine learning also can hold a tendency to discriminate based on race, gender, or age so AI tools must be held to the same standard research clinicians are held to, making sure their designed tools works for the whole community.

And while it is great that there are more companies trying to support those with mental health struggles, there are some downsides when it comes to the multitude of apps in this particular area. Although many companies do tend to provide research demonstrating their products work, there is still a legitimate concern regarding the efficacy of a product. A good idea is to ask your physician before engaging in one of these apps. Additionally, it is important to understand an app’s privacy policy to ensure that no sensitive data will be leaked. There is also debate over whether these apps might make people less inclined to go to different types of therapy which is typically very helpful for those with mental health struggles. This concern signals a broader problem of understanding what kind of guidance do these apps offer and are those who primarily work in tech able to create an effective mental health app?

Yes, the pandemic helped shed light upon mental health issues, but it is important to note that mental health should not be viewed as a “fad” to invest in now, and forget about later. It will always persist. At the very least, it seems like interset in mental health companies are on the rise, and it is comforting to know stigma surrounding mental health is becoming increasingly rare.