Chris and Alex Naoumidis came in hypnotherapy through the dresses.
How? 'Or' What The New York Times reported last yearThe two brothers started their careers as start-up entrepreneurs with a women-to-women clothing swap app. The Australian natives were overwhelmed with doubts about their ability to succeed in their country of origin; When the apps weren't working, her father suggested they try hypnotherapy.
These sessions led the brothers to launch Mental Health and raise $ 1.1 million in funds from investors, including Fifty Years, YC, Gelt VC, Giant Leap VC and angel investors in the United States and Australia.
It's a multitude of sponsors for a little round that ended in November 2019, but it does indicate the type of bets that investors are willing to accept in the mental health field these days.
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A large number of applicati ons have appeared on the market to treat the mental disorders which apparently accompany life in the modern world. There are companies that facilitate pairing with therapists, companies that provide mental wellness tools in the form of cognitive behavioral therapies, billionaire companies that offer mindfulness and meditation, and companies that offer mindfulness. Hypnotherapy.
The hypnotherapy sessions that Alex and his brother attended gave them an idea. "Could we do this in a way similar to meditation and market it in a way that is useful?" Alex Naoumidis told me.
Meditation is a multi-million dollar business, with applications like Calm and Headspace raise millions of dollars in risk funding and give them billions of dollars in perceived valuation.
Alex Naoumidis points out that the app is not therapy, the company cannot launch it that way under current regulations. "It is more of a self-management tool," he said. "Help people with anxiety or (irritable bowel syndrome) manage these symptoms at home to complement the work they do."
The goal, according to Alex Naoumidis, is to have a series of applications under the umbrella of Mindset that deal with specific conditions. While it started as a more general mental wellness app, society now has Nerva, their IBS-focused product, as well as their comprehensive mental health toolkit.
Nerva is not a cheap subscription. There is a down payment of $ 99 then a subscription of $ 88 for three months. Mindset's subscription service costs $ 11 (COVID-19 era retail price) below $ 64 when Times writer Nellie Bowles first tested the product.
Here's how she described it:
At first, the app suggested that you text a friend or tweet the quote "He who conquers himself is the most powerful warrior". For the next 19 minutes, a soft male voice told me that my mind could slow down. You can turn your concerns into decisions. The process can even become second nature. And if you do, I can be a person of action. A person of action.
I did another module, Increase Productivity, which is expressed by a younger, more cheerful man, a startup brother right in my ear who asks me to repeat after him: "I give myself permission to know what I want to be and what I want to do. " do it and do it effectively. "
These mental health apps, or any wellness promotion app, supplement, or company should have clinical studies to back up their claims, and Mindset is working with doctors on the products. The initial Mindset application was designed in collaboration with Dr. Michael Japko, while the IBS application was designed with Dr. Simone Peters.
Both receive income shared with the company for their work in developing the therapy course.
The co-founder of the company says he does not scientifically see the success of the service. People report their symptoms themselves at the start and end of the program. For those who complete the program, 90% have reduced symptoms (I don't know what percentage of subscriptions end the program).
"Our idea is that we want to help the researchers who develop these incredible programs to deliver them digitally," said Alex Naoumidis. "We are working with leading global researchers to make it more accessible."