One Mind™, a leading mental health non-profit with a 28+ year track record of supporting psychiatric research, has announced the eleven companies making up the inaugural cohort for the One Mind Accelerator. The intensive ten-week program, which launched on February 27, 2023, aims to help founders rapidly build and scale early-stage startups developing real-world solutions to improve the lives of people facing mental health conditions. Out of 105 applications received, eleven early-stage startups were selected to participate and will each receive a $100,000 investment.
The eleven emerging companies selected to participate in the One Mind Accelerator are:
- Ceretype – an in-market, audit-cleared brain “biomarker engine” – a novel fMRI platform incorporating optimal image acquisition and advanced analytics that de-risks and accelerates the development.
- Flock Health – a digital health company working to detect and reduce acute mental health crises for patients suffering from Serious Mental Illness and, in doing so, improve patient wellbeing and health outcomes while lowering spend on inpatient and emergency care.
- Flourish Labs – a company empowering college students to support each other through mobilizing and scaling mental health peer support with tech.
- Flowly – a clinically validated platform for managing stress and building resilience in teams. Using a mobile app and VR headset, Flowly collects biometric data such as heart rate and converts it to visualizations in virtual experiences that reduce feelings of stress and burnout by 20 – 100%.
- Heading Health – a mental healthcare provider offering a personalized and holistic approach to treatment, guided by cutting-edge research and technology.
- Somethings – a platform connecting teenagers with certified Peer Mentors who are trained to provide mental health support through a novel, digital first care delivery method.
- Motif Neurotech – a company creating minimally invasive bioelectronic implants that monitor and treat severe mental health conditions.
- Options MD – a telehealth company enabling patients to access mental health care and treatment options that address severe and treatment-resistant mental illnesses, starting with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
- Sanarai – a mental health platform for Spanish-speakers, addressing the gap in mental health offering for the Latinx community.
- Tetricus Labs – a precision psychiatry company leveraging breakthrough AI computational neuroscience to deliver the right diagnosis and treatment recommendation for every patient.
- Zama Health – a behavioral health platform providing full strength mental health clinical intervention for athletes and the broader fitness community, while also adding performance, educational, and community support resources that improve program adherence and member engagement outcomes for users.
The eleven companies kicked off the program on February 27 with a weeklong in-person series of workshops and seminars in Menlo Park, California. The Accelerator will provide 10 weeks of programming that covers all aspects of building a mental health company: from working with payers and providers, to pursuing regulatory approval, to designing category-defining companies that adhere to the highest ethical standards. Co-creating with the lived experience community will be an important aspect of the program, helping founders to build products that meaningfully address the needs of their target market.
“We are thrilled to welcome these companies into the One Mind Accelerator,” said Brandon Staglin, President of One Mind and schizophrenia survivor. “Each of them is already doing innovative work to empower people to face mental health challenges – whether by serving the underserved or using technology to improve treatments. Having dealt with my own mental illness, I can’t wait to watch this program catalyze critical treatment innovations to tackle the toughest problem in mental health.”
The One Mind Accelerator invests in startups across a wide range of mental health conditions and solutions. The selected companies are at pre-seed or seed-stage, have full-time founding teams, a product and/or service in development, and proof of traction either through clinically validated research, customer discovery, or early revenue. These companies range from service-based companies innovating on patient engagement, access, quality of care, and care delivery models, to “deep science / deep tech” companies commercializing breakthrough discovery platforms, diagnostics, and treatments with the goal of realizing the promise of precision psychiatry.
“In the world of tech, Y Combinator has been a powerful accelerator of innovation, giving new entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and even capital to turn a transformative concept into a new company. I am excited that the One Mind Accelerator can have the same impact for entrepreneurs innovating for mental health.” said Dr. Thomas Insel, entrepreneur, author, and former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. “We certainly need a wave of innovation to solve the mental health crisis. The One Mind Accelerator can build that wave, changing diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes with innovative solutions.”
The eleven companies were selected through an open application process and referrals. The selection committee is made up of five members of the Accelerator Governing Council. That includes leading businesspersons and investors from the One Mind Board: Garen Staglin, Co-founder and Chairman of One Mind; Gwill York, Co-founder of Lighthouse Capital Partners; Christopher Lyle, Founder of Skyline Capital and formerly, Founder of Sequoia Capital Global Equities; and Harvey Schwartz, former President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs. Aaron Gershenberg, co-founder and managing partner of SVB Capital, serves as an external member of the Accelerator Governing Council.
“Everyone has someone in their lives with a mental illness. Your loved ones and the 70 million Americans living with mental illness deserve a better future. The best-in-class startups of the One Mind Accelerator’s inaugural cohort demonstrate this program’s potential to make that future real.” said Garen Staglin, Chair of the Accelerator Governing Council and Co-founder and Chairman of One Mind.
The Accelerator leverages One Mind’s extensive network of scientists, investors, entrepreneurs, operators, policymakers, payers, providers, and mental health advocates, to serve as mentors and subject matter experts to the selected companies. The participating companies are also being supported by major corporate sponsors such as Silicon Valley Bank, Amazon Web Services, Brex, HubSpot, Cooley, and IDEO with in-kind services and perks.
The 10 weeks of in-person and virtual programming will culminate in the Demo Day on May 3, 2023, where founders will present to a select, invite-only audience of investors, media, and other leaders in the mental health ecosystem. For additional information and questions about the One Mind Accelerator, including participating in the Demo Day, please contact Carmine Di Maro, Director of One Mind Accelerator: carmine.dimaro@onemind.org
About One Mind™
Launched in 1995 by Shari and Garen Staglin as their means to “run toward the problem” of their son’s schizophrenia diagnosis, One Mind today catalyzes visionary change through science, business and media to transform the world’s mental health. Through such achievements as enrolling over 10,000 patients in innovative clinical studies and the One Mind at Work initiative that has brought supportive workplace mental health practices to over 7 million employees, One Mind powers evidence-based solutions to enable all people to succeed in their mental health journeys. Brandon Staglin, whose own experiences inspired the creation of the non-profit, now serves as its President, exemplifying the change One Mind seeks in its disruptive initiatives.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230228006165/en/