What is Telosity?

Telosity invests in increasing digital wellness and mental health rescues and tools to support millions of people across the US. Telosity is the 1st to invest in startups with a focus on Mental Health and Wellbeing for young people.

We have built a community of entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, nonprofits, parents, and young people to help support our mission.

What is the focus of Telosity?

We are driven to improve digital wellness and mental health, and we achieve it by doing the following:

Invest in Startups

Provide capital to Pre-seed, Seed & Series A stage startups tackling issues within youth mental health and well-being.

Accelerate Impact

Offer tailored services that support a company’s distribution, pilots, and scaling.

Grow Community

Connect startups and companies for potential partnerships, scale opportunities and sharing of best practices and trends garnered through Telosity's work.

Why youth mental health?

While the rates of stress, anxiety and depression have been on the rise for the past decade, it wasn’t until COVID-19 that youth mental health was pushed to the forefront.

Social isolation, school closures, financial hardships, and civil unrest exacerbated the growing mental health crisis and exposed gaps in access and affordability of mental health services.

Suicidality

50.6%

increase in suicide-related ED visits for teen girls in February 21—March 20, 2021, compared to the same period in 2019.

Source at cdc.gov

Parents Quitting

21%

of parents report either quitting or having plans to quit their job to better manage their child’s mental health.

Source at prnewswire.com

Access to Care

60%

of 12-17 year olds with major depression did not receive mental health care in 2020.

Source at mhanational.org

kid sitting in stress with phone on the floor

Intervention Gap

11 years

is the average length of time between symptom onset and treatment.

Source at nami.com

Thank you for your interest!

Continue reading the in-depth report below.

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Subsector Overview

We created a landscape of the companies in the Telosity pipeline to better understand the types of solutions being developed in the youth mental wellbeing space.

Through this process, we have identified eight categories. Below are details of the problem addressed within each category, the types of solutions, and additional insights.

Wellness & Self-Care

Tools that promote general mental wellness habits.

Non-licensed Support Services

Tools that connect users to chatbots, peers, or coaches.

Emerging Technology

Virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), augmented reality (AR), internet of things (IoT), and wearables delivering novel interventions to improve mental health.

Assessment

Screenings used to detect the presence of mental distress and/or illness.

Improved Online Experiences

Solutions that provide a better online experience through positive online social connections or constructive, healthy engagement with technology tools.

Clinician Access

Tools that facilitate a virtual or in-person connection to a licensed professional.

Engagement & Adherence

Tools that help patients, patients’ parents, and/or clinicians monitor the patient between clinician visits and/or comply with the treatment plan.

Positive Skill Building

Structured programs that bolster positive social, emotional, or behavioral skills.

Youth Subsector Investments

Clinician Access and Improved Online Experiences have received the highest amount of investment dollars over the last two years.

COVID-19 was a big driver of investment in these two areas. The pandemic exacerbated the youth mental health crisis, creating an urgent need for solutions that can deliver mental healthcare virtually.

Simultaneously, young people were spending more time, generating an opportunity for products that could help young people have more authentic and/or safer digital interactions.

2021 brought an increase in the number of funding rounds >$50M.

In 2020, there were no deals >$50M, where in 2021, there were five.

While the youth mental health market is relatively nascent, growing round sizes indicate a maturing market and recognition among investors that this an area of opportunity. The top five largest deals in 2021 are the following:

Elemy

Elemy is a B2B2C platform helping provide access to in-home pediatric care for ongoing behavioral challenges.

Deal: $219M Series B

Date of transaction: Oct. 26, 2021

Akili

Akili builds clinically-validated cognitive therapeutics, assessments, and diagnostics that look and feel like video games.

Deal: $110M Series D

Date of transaction: May 26, 2021

GoGuardian

GoGuardian software helps schools easily manage their devices, better understand their students, and keep them safer online.

Deal: $200M in PE

Date of transaction: Aug. 5, 2021

Cortica

Cortica is a provider of advanced neurological therapies for children with autism and other developmental differences.

Deal: $60M Series C

Date of transaction: June 29, 2021

2021 M&A Activity

Feb. 21

Modern Health acquires Kip

UNKN

Modern Health acquired KIP, which created a unique shared infrastructure to help therapists and patients track mental health progress over time and create more personalized mental health experiences.

Jun. 07

DarioHealth acquires WayForward

UNKN

DarioHealth acquires WayForward, which offers platform uses analytics and machine learning algorithms to offer evidence-based behavioral health programs and provide tools to manage stress, anxiety and depression.

Jun. 08

Patient Access Services acquires Tela Mental Health

UNKN

Patient Access Services acquires Tela Mental Health, a patient access solution that offers confidential, unlimited telephonic consultation, online therapy, counseling and referral services.

Jun. 23

K Health acquires Trusst

$10M

K Health, which offers a digital primary care service, acquired Trusst, a text-based therapy platform.

Jul. 28

Amwell acquires SilverCloud

UNKN

AmWell acquires SilverCloud, which develops an evidence-based mental wellbeing program.

Jul. 28

Wonder Health acquires eMindful

UNKN

Wonder Health acquires eMindful, a provider of online and mobile interactive courses intended to help individuals and teams become more resilient.

Aug. 25

Ginger & Headspace merge

$3B

Meditation and mindfulness startup Headspace and on-demand mental healthcare app Ginger have announced plans to merge into a single company, called Headspace Health.

Sept.17

Betterup acquires Motive & Impraise

UNKN

BetterUp announces its first formal acquisitions of Motive, which develops AI to instantly understand customer and employee emotions from data, and Impraise, which creates technologies to facilitate better team experiences.

Sept. 21

Alan acquires Jour

UNKN

Alan acquires Jour, developer of a journaling application designed to offer users a space to maintain a personal journal,

Oct. 18

SonderMind acquires Qntfy

UNKN

SonderMind acquires Qntfy makes complex psychological and behavioral data accessible, scalable, and actionable, by integrating data into a variety of applications and services available to improve the wellbeing and behavioral health

Dec, 09

Quartet Health acquires InnovaTel Telepsychiatry

UNKN

Digital mental health company Quartet Health announced that it snapped up InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, a virtual behavioral health provider, for an undisclosed sum.

2022 Predictions

VC firms will continue to build out robust portfolio support services

Founders of pre-Series A companies value concrete, tactical support. As capital floods the early-stage market, more VCs will add portfolio support functions to differentiate themselves and win competitive deals in hot areas, like mental health.

M&A activity will increase in the mental health tech market

As the mental health tech market continues to mature, companies will seek to expand capabilities by acquiring or merging companies. Vertical and horizontal integrations are both likely strategies as companies seek to serve populations with varying acuity levels or address the unmet mental health needs of existing patients.

More startup creation, investment, & adoption

Founders are responding to demand for tech-enabled solutions from stakeholders, such as parents, schools, and employers, and aiming to build the next generation of mental health tools to support Gen Z. Investors are recognizing the opportunity and will invest more money into fledgling startups in this area.

Investing in Early-stage Innovation

The Need for Support for Founders at the Earliest Stages

The early-stage startup journey is full of challenges, but founders building in Telosity’s focus areas face a unique level of complexity because of the number of stakeholders and regulations surrounding young people.

First-time founders, which founded 55% of the companies in the Telosity pipeline, are uniquely disadvantaged because they often lack a personal network that can be tapped into for initial funding or advice to fill knowledge gaps.

Specific areas of need include:
‍

Engineering & Design
Hiring support for critical first employees
Preliminary business model validation
Preparation to raise investment capital
Access to subject matter experts
Product feedback with diverse young people

Addressing the Gap

58%

of startups who raise a Pre-series A round do not raise a Series A.

Founders building in the youth mental wellbeing space face nuanced hurdles and a fragmented ecosystem that require a customized support.

Even for companies that are successful in raising an initial round of capital finding product-market fit remains a challenge.

Incubators and accelerators don’t fill this gap, leaving room for a new model that can accommodate the nuanced challenges each company faces during the early stage journey.

Incubators

Develop ideas + team into startup
Avg. duration of involvement: 1+ years

Accelerators

Help startups raise money
Avg. duration of involvement: 3-6 months

Scale & Impact

If startups cross the chasm, they’re positioned to increase access to MH services for millions of young people.

Telosity Pipeline Breakdown & Impact

811

Total number of companies identified working on general mental health & well-being in adults and youth across all company stages

342

Total number of companies that fit Telosity’s preliminary investment criteria

8

Telosity’s total number of investments

1

Startup acquired

Telosity Portfolio Highlights

Ksana Health is improving mental health through objective measurement and personalized Intervention.

ksanahealth.com

Neolth provides stress and mental health support to students by delivering on-demand, personalized care via our self-guided platform.

neolth.com

Maslo works with businesses and brands to build empathetic digital companions that connect with humans and help them grow in meaningful ways.

maslo.ai

Daybreak Health builds mental fitness in young people by creating universal access to high-quality mental health care - starting with online counseling redesigned for teens.

daybreakhealth.com

Flipd is the digital wellness company that’s engineering well-being, by nudging people to be happier, healthier, and more productive with their time.

flipdapp.co

Manatee is a digital platform that integrates pediatric behavioral health therapy into the daily lives of families.

getmanatee.com

MindRight Health is making mental health care radically accessible and inclusive by providing culturally responsive mental health coaching over text message to underserved communities.

mindright.io

AQUIRED
‍
MyLife is an innovative start-up that develops award-winning meditation and mindfulness apps to help students build emotional strength and confidence.

my.life

What the future holds

Digital Wellness and Mental Health needs are growing.

Digital Wellness

$4.5T Market

and mental health has a $6T global economic impact with 970M individuals suffering with mental illness.

Source at wellnesscreatives.com

Behavioral Health

$99.4B

expected growth of US behavioral health market by 2028.

Source at globenewswire.com

Telosity will build on our foundation in the digital wellness and mental health space to scale solutions.

A holistic approach that includes mental health, sleep, activity and nutrition is just as important as the continuum of care and support. Telosity will invest in startups, grow the ecosystem and work with leading organizations and industry experts.

Conclusion

As we move forward into the future, Telosity aims to continue investing and supporting early stage startups.

In 2022 we predict that there will be both an increasing need for startups in youth mental health as the pandemic continues to provide new challenges to Gen Z as well as a consolidation through M&A as companies seek to broaden their capabilities to address varying acuity levels vertically and horizontally.

To better support founders of pre-Series A companies facing these new challenges, Telosity 2.0 will provide a three pronged approach encompassing a new Venture Studio, a new Investment Fund, and a wraparound Platform consisting of ecosystem, luminaries, advisors, youth ambassadors, and a Collaborative Network. Through this innovative approach, Telosity 2.0 uniquely positions itself to handle the future of mental health and beyond.
‍
Telosity will continue to focus on improving digital wellness and mental health through its established pipeline of startups, network of luminaries, advisors and partners and support growth of innovative startups. We look forward to partnering for the future.

2021 Telosity Annual Report

Introduction

What is Telosity?

What is the focus of Telosity?

Invest in Startups

Accelerate Impact

Grow Community

Why youth mental health?

Suicidality

50.6%

Parents Quitting

21%

Access to Care

60%

Intervention Gap

11 years

Investment Trends in Youth Mental Health

Investment into Youth Mental Health Companies has steadily increased over the last four years.

Continue reading our report

Subsector Overview

Youth Subsector Investments

2021 brought an increase in the number of funding rounds >$50M.

Elemy

Akili

GoGuardian

Cortica

2021 M&A Activity

2022 Predictions

VC firms will continue to build out robust portfolio support services

M&A activity will increase in the mental health tech market

More startup creation, investment, & adoption

Investing in Early-stage Innovation

The Need for Support for Founders at the Earliest Stages

Addressing the Gap

58%

Telosity Pipeline Breakdown & Impact

811

342

8

1

Telosity Portfolio Highlights

What the future holds

Digital Wellness and Mental Health needs are growing.

Digital Wellness

$4.5T Market

Behavioral Health

$99.4B

Conclusion

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2021 Telosity Annual Report

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