Not just bad mood: investments in Mental Health and funding round of the Inflow startup

The development of technologies in the field of Mental health has made quality psychological assistance services more accessible. And the pandemic has only added to the number of customers for such companies. According to the study, only among young Americans, the number of depression caused by lockdown and COVID-19 has reached 80%. Despite the growing demand, most startups still face stigmatization of the topic of mental illness and a limited number of qualified specialists.

At the same time, as the CEO of Talkspace mental health project notes, it is the pandemic that has once again proved that this sphere feels comfortable in the digital space. Most often, psychological support applications are needed, not additional tests or procedures, an application and an Internet connection are enough.

We have already talked about the latest developments in the field of Mental health: large companies working with suppression of states, emotional burnout, depressive episodes. But a few days ago it became known that the Pre-seed round was raised by the Inflow startup, created by “people with ADHD for people with ADHD.” This is a rare example of a project aimed not at a wide range of psychological problems, but at a narrow audience of a specific disorder. At least 5% of the total population suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the project team is 50% composed of people with this diagnosis.

This helps to better understand the request of the developer’s target audience. Now the application, which is in closed beta testing (the launch is still announced for April), allows you to manage your tasks and time, prioritize tasks, and use a special mood tracker. It differs from the usual organizer in that it is based on the principle of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the most common among people with ADHD, and offers a special program for 7 weeks. Inflow also unites people in the community, allowing them to communicate on their site. Testing of the service shows at the moment positive changes in more than 80% of users.

The $680.000 round was led by Rhythm VC, with the participation of several business angels. In five years, in the United States alone, 293 deals were made to finance mental health projects worth $2.6B (as of 02/18/2021). Interestingly, $1B of them was invested only in 2020, which once again confirms the thesis about the growing audience of projects due to the pandemic. In 2021, there were already $328M of investments, which is equal to all investments in mental health in 2018 (data from Crunchbase).