The Thriving Industry of Mental Health

With 2020 packing a serious punch to our collective mental health, it's no wonder last year was a record-breaking year for mental health startups. Funding reached $1.37BN in 2020, and it looks like the trend isn't dissipating anytime soon.  According to PrivCo's private company data, funding has reached a staggering $779.1MM just five months into 2021. On the heels of Talkspace's impressive SPAC deal, valuing the company at $1.4BN in Q1 this year, mental health companies are positioning themselves to be next.

Read on for a look at some of the top private companies in mental health.

                

Unicorns 🦄

• A relative newcomer in the space, Modern Health has already reached unicorn status after its Q1 raise of $74MM, led by Founders Fund. Founded in 2017, this company focuses on giving access to mental health care for employees, working with employers including Pixar, Udemy, Zendesk, and Clif Bar.
• Lyra Health got a big boost to its valuation, reaching $2.3BN six years after it was founded in Burlingame, CA.  The $180MM Series E in January came after its membership doubled in 2020. Lyra Health focuses on providing employees access to mental health services like talk therapy and coaching. The company recently partnered with the meditation app Calm, which boasts 100MM downloads.
• Honorable mention in this category goes to Ginger. While it hasn't reached unicorn status yet, the company gets a nod for nearly doubling its valuation in Q1. Ginger is a native mobile app offering on-demand therapy and support with the help of its $100MM Round E led by Blackstone Group in March. Founded in 2010, the San Francisco private company has been experiencing rapid growth since 2019.

• Happify Health, a software platform bringing mental and physical wellness under one roof, raised a $73MM Series D led by Deerfield Management in March. The company has a desirable value proposition in its ability to bring together employers, providers, patients, and pharma companies.
• Headspace is a D2C mindfulness app that has gone B2B. In an effort to provide businesses with tools for their employees, Headspace raised its Series C-2 in June of 2020. Employers can hope to see improvements in their team’s stress management, sleep quality, and resilience.

• When individual therapists were collecting waitlists for new clients, SonderMind was offering providers and patients an easy, painless way to find one another. The company raised $26MM in April of last year from General Catalyst.

• Seattle-based startup Heard is in the business of helping mental health providers run their businesses. The company offers bookkeeping and tax prep so professionals can spend more time helping their patients. Heard just raised a seed round of $1.3MM, led by Founder’s Co-op.