California-based Mindstrong Health, a start-up that is transforming the treatment and diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders with the power of AI and ubiquitous mobile technology has announced that it has secured around $14 million round of Series-A funding. The funding was led by Foresite Capital and also ARCH Venture Partners, and the round included participation from Optum Ventures, the One Mind Brain Health Impact Fund, and Berggruen Holdings. This funding will be used in order to build Mindstrong Health’s elite technology and clinical operations team so as to support large-scale research and development.
Optum VC backs Mindstrong Health
Mindstrong Health is now developing a technology that tracks and even analyzes the changes in how people tend to use their smartphones in order to glean insights into their mental health status.
UnitedHealth Group Inc.
Optum, a fast-growing division of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. has launched a capital arm a few months ago. Further, in April, it went on to invest around $7.5 million in Shyft Technologies. Now this VC arm has joined in a $14 million round of funding for a startup, Mindstrong Health.
What Dr. Paul Dagum has to say?
Dr. Paul Dagum, founder and CEO of Mindstrong Health said, ‘All modern medicine is based on objective measurement, yet tracking mental health has been limited to subjective reports in a clinical environment’. Dr. Paul added, ‘To improve outcomes for people with mental disorders, we need the kind of objective measures we have for other chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Mindstrong’s technology delivers continuous, objective measures of behavior and cognition at a level of resolution and insight that has never been possible’.
What Dr. Tom Insel has to say?
Tom Insel, co-founder and President of Mindstrong Health said, ‘What excites me about Mindstrong is the transformation of an individual’s patterns of typing or scrolling on a Smartphone into precise measures of cognitive function’. Dr. Insel added, ‘This new, powerful approach to assessment serves as the foundation for developing better interventions to improve mental health care. Mental disorders are global health problems. With smartphones, we have a potential global solution’.
Date: June 19, 2017
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