Acumen is a nonprofit venture fund that invests in early-stage companies bringing critical services like agriculture, clean energy, education, financial inclusion, healthcare and workforce development to low-income communities in 14 countries across East and West Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the United States.  Since 2001, Acumen invested $128 million in 128 companies that have transformed the lives of over 308 million low-income people.

Acumen

Impact America Fund is an investment firm that is catalyzing the economic liberation of underserved communities in America. They see tremendous creativity, drive, skill, resilience, and opportunity in communities and sectors that are traditionally overlooked and undervalued. They invest in businesses with “inherent impact,” whereby the design of their business models and products creates shared value for their consumers, workers, suppliers, investors, and other key stakeholders. They back entrepreneurs whose lived experiences deepen both their impact-orientation and understanding of the structural problems they are solving.

Impact America Fund

Newark Venture Partners invests in seed-stage B2B software companies based on data-driven and thematically oriented convictions, reinforced by industry insights and relationships.  Our tight-knit team of investment professionals executes with a startup mindset, putting decades of operational experience to support entrepreneurs throughout the journey of building a business.

Newark Venture Partners

Vinaj is an innovation and investment services boutique consulting firm based in San Francisco. Recently, the firm launched Telosity, a fund dedicated to investing in Pre-seed and Seed-stage companies improving mental wellbeing for people between the ages of 10 and 24 years old.

Vinaj and Telosity Ventures

Founded in 2016 and based in San Francisco, Acumen America is the US arm of the non-profit global venture capital investment firm Acumen. Acumen America is the leading early-stage (pre-seed and seed) venture capital firm investing in innovative solutions to three systemic symptoms of poverty in America: unequal workforce development, health inequities and financial instability.  We believe that lasting change requires big, new ideas designed to scale.

Acumen America

Hopelab is a social innovation lab and impact investor advancing entrepreneurs, research, digital health, and solutions that support and empower young people, especially those from historically underserved communities. The organization works to remove systemic barriers to youth mental health and emotional well-being through targeted social impact investments, hands-on design and research support for digital innovation, and translational science partnerships. Learn more at hopelab.org.

Hopelab

ImpactAssets is a nonprofit financial services firm that enables philanthropists and individual investors to engage in impact investing. It is a 501(c)3 organization.The firm offers impact investment products, including a donor advised fund called Giving Fund, impact investing notes, and educational resources to support individuals and advisors interested in impact investing and to help build the field of impact investing.ImpactAssets is based in Bethesda, Maryland.

ImpactAssets

Lifeforce Capital invests in digital health companies enabling new care delivery models or more efficient therapeutic development. Lifeforce Capital is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Lifeforce Capital

Gaingels is a venture investment syndicate in service of the LGBT+ community and its allies, investing in companies with LGBT+ founders and C-suite leaders at all stages of growth, as well as in more established companies resolved on building more inclusive teams, with a global portfolio of 130+ companies and $70M in deployed investment capital to date.  The Gaingels network also actively supports its portfolio in identifying and recruiting diverse talent to their C-suite and board leadership teams and fosters a vibrant global community of industry leaders, investors, operators, and entrepreneurs who share a common goal for positive social change through business and successful investments.

Gaingels

The Y Startup Index provides a better way for Y Investors to gain access to Y founder deals, and a better way for entrepreneurs to access a broader group of Yale alumni angels.

The Y Startup Index

MindRight Health

MindRight Health's mission is to advance health equity by making mental health care radically accessible and inclusive of communities of color and low-income families. MindRight partners with healthcare payers and providers to offer culturally-responsive mental health coaching over a text message. MindRight's members receive a personal team of coaches who proactively support them 7 days/week, 365 days/year. Through its service, MindRight is creating a continuum of support that does not generally exist for youth. For communities who do not traditionally engage in clinical services due to high stigma and lack of access, MindRight serves as an ongoing source of culturally responsive, nonclinical support. MindRight provides its partners with real-time data on community mental health needs to predict and prevent mental health crises in the communities.

<div><p>MindRight Health provides culturally responsive, non-clinical mental health support for young adults of marginalized communities (people of color) and low-income families primarily through text messaging. The company was founded by Ashley Edwards, featured in “Forbes 30 Under 30” list in 2018 for her work on MindRight. Members can sign up using their email and mobile number, get matched with a coach (young professionals, former teachers, community members and college students trained by MindRight) and start messaging. The coaches will listen and work in teams to support young adults and students who are dealing with stress and trauma. The service is available free of charge.</p></div>

New technologies are opening up mental health services to previously overbooked and underserved populations.

Mental Health Tech

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  <p>
    MindRight Health provides culturally responsive, non-clinical mental health support for young adults of marginalized communities (people of color) and low-income families primarily through text messaging. The company was founded by Ashley Edwards, featured in “Forbes 30 Under 30” list in 2018 for her work on MindRight. Members can sign up using their email and mobile number, get matched with a coach (young professionals, former teachers, community members and college students trained by MindRight) and start messaging. The coaches will listen and work in teams to support young adults and students who are dealing with stress and trauma. The service is available free of charge.
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    Boulder Care is a telepsychiatry platform that connects patients who are opioid-addicted users to addiction specialists, care coordinators, and peer coaches. Patients can get personalized plans via video and text messaging and the app is intended to be used in conjunction with prescription medicines and lab tests.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In June 2022, the company raised USD 36 million in a Series B funding round. The funds were earmarked to triple the size of the company’s medical care team, expand its geographical footprint, and increase its value-based care treatment options through partnerships with health plans.
  </p>
</div>


Boulder Care

<div>
  <p>
    7 Cups provides an emotional-support platform with a network of volunteer listeners. Users can anonymously access either one-on-one chats or group chats 24/7, free of charge for issues such as depression, anxiety, relationships and those related to the LGBTQ+ community.  It also teaches users skills such as meditation to improve their lives. If users want additional support, the company also provides access to an online therapy platform with a network of 180 licensed therapists for a subscription plan of USD 150 per month. 7 Cups is available for users above 13 years of age (users between 13 and 17 years old engage with listeners who are specifically trained in teenage interactions).
  </p>
  <p>
    Volunteer peer listeners get free training and support as well as flexible scheduling. Once a user requests a chat, it will be directed to available listeners and if the user requests a specific listener, he will be connected as soon as the listener accepts the demand. The service is anonymous and the listener has no access to the details of the user unless the information is disclosed to the listener by the user in their conversations. As of January 2022, 7 Cups has facilitated more than 51 million conversations, served 25 million individuals, and had 300,000 trained listeners. The listeners serve in 180 countries in 140 languages.
  </p>
</div>


7 Cups

<div>
  <p>
    wayForward provides technology-supported behavioral health and emotional wellness services for employers planning to make services available to their employees. It uses a screening procedure designed by neuropsychologists to triage and help employee members get clinically relevant mental healthcare. The company provides a self-guided app, text-based coaching, video visits, telepsychiatry, and if required, in-person visits or an on-site counselor. wayForward leverages its evidence-based approach and artificial intelligence in delivering its services and claims that it has been able to reduce anxiety symptoms by 48% and depression symptoms by 59%.
  </p>
  <p>
    The company raised USD 2 million in a seed round in June 2020, which brought total funding to USD 4.5 million. DarioHealth, a chronic disease management platform based in Israel, signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of wayForward in May 2021 for a total consideration of USD 30 million. As of May 2021, the wayForward had approximately 20,000 members and was available in North America, Australia, and Europe. 
  </p>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


wayForward

<div>
  <p>
    Coa is a mental health company that conducts online classes led by licensed therapists for mental health users. The classes focus on conditions such as stress, anxiety, confidence and relationships. The company raised USD 3 million in a seed round in October 2020 from investors led by Crosslink Capital.
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    Meru Health is an online platform that connects patients experiencing stress, depression, anxiety, burnout, and other mental health issues to licensed therapists. The company was founded by Kristian Ranta in 2016 after his older brother died from suicide after battling depression. The platform offers a 12-week program and personalized text-based coaching services and virtual workshops. Meru also provides access to progress reports and anonymous peer support groups as well as sleep, nutrition, and mindfulness advice on top of vital tracking information—such as heart rate data.
  </p>
  <p>
    The company reported a 10x YoY growth in its customer base in 2020 and plans to serve 10 million users by 2027. The company also achieved 8x YoY growth in revenue in 2020 amid an increase in demand in mental health services brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Key customers and partnerships</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In September 2022, Meru Health and clinical trial platform Curebase 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13230">
      announced a partnership
    </a>
     to carry out a three-year clinical trial to measure the effectiveness of Meru Health’s 12-week digital depression treatment targeting primary care patients. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Small Business Innovation Research program. 
  </p>
  <p>
    <b></b>
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Fundings and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In May 2022, the company secured a USD 2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to measure the effectiveness of its 12-week program for treating primary care patients. The study will follow 300 patients across the US with symptoms of major depression for a period of three years.
  </p>
</div>


Meru Health

Offers virtual offerings for mental health consultations

Mental healthcare services offer personalized care tailored to a user's needs and treatment progression

There are mental health providers offering services specifically to help LGBTQ+ or BIPOC individuals

Several mental health technology providers offer therapy services rendered by AI/ML technology

Subscription or membership-based platforms and apps to connect therapists, psychiatrists or behavioral health coaches with patients.

MindRight Health

Mental Health Tech

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