Digital mental health platform snags $4.2m in seed funding
PALO ALTO: This morning, Finland and Palo Alto-based Meru Health, maker of a mental health platform, landed $4.2 million in seed funding. The new money comes from Freestyle Capital, Bonit Capital, Y Combinator, Lifeline Ventures and IT-Farm.
Meru offers a digital tool that is supported by licensed therapists. The program lasts 12 weeks, and each week has a different theme that builds on the previous one. In addition to the program, users have access to therapists, whom they can reach out to during the 12-week program. Users also have access to anonymous peer support groups. The program targets people dealing with depression, burnout and anxiety.
On the provider side, clinicians are able to refer their patients to the service. The startup also works with employers, offering employee screenings, the 12-week program and support of therapy services.
The company’s platform has been a part of a number of studies and pilots. In January, news broke that the acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of Meru’s platform would be evaluated in a new two-year investigation conducted by Stanford Medicine and VA Palo Alto Health Care Systems researchers.
The platform has also been tested in specific populations. A year ago the company teamed up with Now Finnish Student Health System and eClinicalHealth to study the efficacy and feasibility of using the platform to help college-aged students with depression.
Additionally, in 2017 Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), a healthcare organization that is part of Sutter Health in California, used a digital program to combat burnout and depression among physicians.
