MindRight Health Raises $1.78 Million in Seed Round and Announces Ground-breaking Payer Partnerships
Text-based mental health coaching is now more accessible for communities of color and under-represented youth populations.
NEWARK, NJ – June 24, 2022 – MindRight Health, a tech startup dedicated to advancing health equity by making mental health support accessible and inclusive, has raised $1.78 million in seed funding led by LifeForce Capital. The round includes participation from existing investors Acumen America and Impact America Fund. New investors include Hopelab Ventures, Gaingels, and Impact Assets, a DAF funded by Pivotal Ventures (a Melinda French Gates company). Additionally, the company received participation from Y-Index Startup Fund (a community of Yale alumni backing Yale alumni-founded startups).
“We envision a future where marginalized communities have equitable access to tools and technology for healing,” said Ashley Edwards, founder and CEO of MindRight Health. It’s an honor to advance this vision, alongside partners and investors who share that commitment.”
In January, MindRight Health announced a ground-breaking partnership with AmeriHealth Caritas, the largest Medicaid managed care organization in DC, which has made its culturally responsive mental health coaching available to over 100,000 Medicaid enrollees in Washington, DC. Since that major expansion, MindRight has established multiple Medicaid MCO and commercial health plan partnerships to provide their service at no cost to traditionally underserved communities, with several additional state rollouts expected in the next few months. Business Insider named the company one of the top 34 healthcare startups set to take off in 2022.
“The impacts of the pandemic on the mental health of our adolescent and young adults highlighted the need for us to offer a new way of receiving emotional support,” said Dr. Yavar Moghini, medical director, behavioral health at AmeriHealth Caritas. “Of the digital tools available, MindRight is the only platform that provides culturally responsive and trauma-informed mental health coaching and has a track record of working with youth of color that are impacted by trauma. We are excited about how this partnership will provide a new outlet for support for our enrollees at a critical juncture in their lives.”
MindRight offers daily, personalized mental health coaching over text message. Since launching in 2019, MindRight Health has led with a deep understanding of systemic racism and its impact on health equity. Aligning with its mission to make mental health care radically accessible, MindRight has taken the additional step to ensure their nontraditional mental health intervention is Medicaid-reimbursable. MindRight plans to use the funding to continue growing partnerships with health plans across the United States.
“We invested in MindRight Health because we believe in Ashley’s vision for providing accessible mental health care to Medicaid populations,” says John Noonan, founder and managing partner of LifeForce Capital. “MindRight is meeting a critical market need by partnering with health plans to provide culturally-responsive alternatives to traditional clinical care at a time when communities need it most.”
MindRight’s coaching services are non-clinical and serve as daily emotional support for those who can’t access therapy or don’t feel ready for therapy. Participants don’t need to download an app – they can simply contact a coach via basic SMS text messaging. Individuals receive their own personal coaching team to speak with daily, enabling MindRight Health users to build trust and supportive relationships with their coaches over time.
MindRight’s work to harness technology to improve the mental health and well-being of young people is making a real difference. Once enrolled, participants seem to value their experience, with the top users texting MindRight every day for nearly three years.
About MindRight Health
MindRight Health was founded in June 2019 with the mission of making mental health support radically accessible and inclusive. The organization is dedicated to advancing health equity and bringing people from historically marginalized communities to the decision-making table. MindRight leverages technology to create opportunities for systemic healing for youth of color and low-income communities. The organization is a Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund recipient and was in the inaugural cohort of the Google for Startups: Black Founders accelerator program .MindRight Health is the first Black-woman founded startup to raise over $1M in venture capital financing in the state of New Jersey. For more information, visit https://www.mindright.io/