However, an investor’s knowledge of consumers is of limited value when the consumer is best characterized as a patient. While investments in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals are largely made with the engagement of medical doctors, scientists, and clinical researchers, investments in the mental health space are often made by investors with limited credentials, other than an understanding of consumer desire. Where money flows, trends will go-but what happens when those investments influence mental health care as we know it?įor the first time in history, investors and entrepreneurs with little to no background in psychology, neuroscience, medicine, or other mind/brain disciplines are steering the fate of consumer-facing mental health innovation. However, these now open floodgates present an unprecedented problem: By directing funding, investors are increasingly responsible for driving trends in mental healthcare. As a result of this passion-problem alignment, pitch decks espousing the disruptive potential of mental health technologies, like apps, wearables, virtual reality, and other vehicles for virtual care, are pouring into investor inboxes faster than ever before. Often inspired by personal stories of mental illness or burnout, these technologies are increasingly born from a desire for more efficient, engaging, accessible, and cost-effective forms of treatment. 2 Interestingly, most consumer-facing mental health technologies are not created by research institutes or corporations, but by entrepreneurs. The turn of the decade saw a 3-fold increase in mental health technology funding over the previous year, with $1.8 billion invested in 2020 alone, and no indication of slowing down. As it turns out, mental health technologies were not just a trend, but a tinderbox of innovation waiting to be ignited. No one could have predicted the events of 2020-including but not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic, social injustice, civil unrest, environmental crises, and mass misinformation-would have such a catalytic effect on the burgeoning field, spurred on by the necessity of virtual care, lower perceived barriers to adoption, and inflamed mental, emotional, and spiritual state of the nation. 1 Prior to 2020, innovation oracles had forecasted a continued upward trajectory for mental health technologies, and their expectations have now likely been exceeded. Indeed, it can be hard to believe it was only a decade ago when a mere 3 deals worth $6.6 million represented the entirety of the mental health space. Over the past few years, venture investment has surged in a previously sleepy vertical: mental health.
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