The bar for behavioral health startups just got higher – TechCrunch

Hiya and welcome again to Fairness, TechCrunch’s enterprise capital-focused podcast, the place we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Completely happy Saturday!

After information broke that meditation app Headspace and on-demand psychological well being care platform Ginger have been merging, we couldn’t resist hopping on the mics to do a bonus episode. And, as a result of we have been within the temper for warm takes, Natasha and Alex held the dialog on Twitter Areas. The particular company we had on, who we’ll get to down under, didn’t disappoint.

It’s a fast present, however the tl;dr is that you simply wish to pay attention should you’re curious why a meditation app would get into remedy, the precedent by Lyra Well being and Calm, and the way consolidation appears to be like for the sector going ahead.

Right here’s who helped us perceive and contextualize the information:

• Lux Capital associate Deena Shakir (who can also be coming to Disrupt, by the way)
• Chrissy Farr of OMERS Ventures (who you may additionally know as a former CNBC reporter within the healthech house)
• 7WireVentures’ Alyssa Jaffee (who wants her personal podcast as a result of she was shining throughout the Areas)

And, particular shout out to Ginger CEO Russell Glass, who joined the House however wasn’t capable of come up on stage as a consequence of technical difficulties. Twitter Areas are enjoyable, however the platform remains to be a bit nascent so goofs can bedevil stay manufacturing.

Nonetheless, we managed to get some notes from him through e mail, so let’s take a fast take a look at these:

• Glass stated that he agreed with “what Chrissy Farr and others stated about there merely not being sufficient therapists available in the market at this time to fulfill the overwhelming demand,” including that there’s “actual international want at this time for what Headspace Well being can supply – a scaled, complete platform that may actually democratize psychological healthcare.”
• He additionally doubleclicked on the discussing concerning future “significant market consolidation,” noting that he expects to see it “particularly” occur in “areas that handle greater acuity take care of extreme psychological sickness.”

Be sure you are following the podcast on Twitter so that you simply catch us after we go stay. These are supposed to be spontaneous pop up exhibits, so your finest wager is to activate notifications to by no means miss our Areas. Okay that’s all. Thanks everybody!

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