INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mental health issues are thought to impact one in every five people in the U.S., and the stress of working life can be an exacerbating
expand its platform to aid in getting them the help they need.Ginger, a startup that works with organizations and their healthcare providers
to provide employees with an app-based way to connect with coaches to talk through their issues and suggest ways forward, is today
announcing that it has raised $35 million in a Series C round of funding, money that it will use both to expand the data science behind its
therapy programs and the variety of its clinical programs, as well in terms of its business opportunities
The plan is to grow its service internationally and to more touch points beyond the employer channel, including those who access healthcare
through health plans (which might include, potentially, countries with nationalised health services).The funding is a Series C being led by
with participation from some of a number of other new and previous high-profile investors that include City Light Capital, Nimble Ventures,
the U.S., including major markets like the U.K., Japan, Australia, Canada and India.Founded nearly a decade ago as a spin-out from the MIT
health issues and help connect that user with someone to talk to
This lean-forward approach appears to have been retired in favor of a service that relies on the users themselves making the first move.That
first move comes in the form of a text message, which an employee can send 24/7 and receive an immediate response
health insurance can take up to 25 days for your first appointment, Ginger notes, by which point the problem that got you interested in
Ginger itself, and I think the reason is because it helps to differentiate this from in-person, more classic therapy sessions, and because
users, the company says, with the rest resolving issues through the text-based coaching
Time with clinicians is guaranteed to be provided within a 72-hour window.On the other side of the issue of getting to speak to someone,
Ginger also offers options for people to reach out and book coaching and therapy sessions outside of work hours (which presumably is a bonus
both to the employer as well as to employees who are less keen to disrupt work or keep their therapy to themselves).The approach seems to
that is, a person at some point needs to make the proactive effort to reach out for help, and usually continue to work on resolving the
problem on a persistent and regular basis.Teletherapy solutions have both an advantage and disadvantage: being something you can pick up
wherever and whenever makes it something that maybe we are more likely to use; but the lack of physical presence may well make it much
easier for problems to be less apparent
In a sense, the mandate is even more on the likely vulnerable patient to be even more proactive as a result.But the cost to employers of
rolling out wide-scale, physical programs with licensed clinicians, as well as of having too many people off work due to mental health
its competitors.And that list is a long one, with other startups like Lyra Health (founded by the former CFO of Facebook Dave Ebersman),
