Headspace Health acquires AI-driven digital mental health start-up Sayana

JPM 2022: Headspace Health grabs startup Sayana to build out AI-based mental health tools (Fierce Healthcare):

Six months after the $3 billion merger with Ginger, Headspace Health acquired Sayana, an AI-driven mental health and wellness company.

Sayana will expand Headspace Health’s ability to provide personalized self-care content to its 100 million users, executives said … Headspace leverages AI to power a significant percentage of the care the company delivers, [Russell Glass, CEO, Headspace Health] said during the JPM conference, including using natural language processing to extract information from the chats, to summarize coach notes and care information and to monitor for suicidality …

“We’ve gotten to the point now where content recommendations via AI are higher quality by engagement rate than recommendations from providers themselves. The AI recommendations for content are used more frequently,” Glass said … Headspace also is focused on working with more employers through its enterprise brands, Headspace for Work and Ginger. The company currently partners with 3,500 enterprises through health plans such as Cigna.

“We’re seeing hypergrowth in that side of the business,” he said during JPM. The company reports 59% year-over-year growth in employer bookings.

The Annoucement:

Headspace Health Announces Acquisition of AI-Driven Mental Health and Wellness Company, Sayana (press release):

Headspace Health, the provider of the world’s most accessible, comprehensive digital mental health platform, today announced the acquisition of Sayana, an AI-driven mental health and wellness company. Sayana will expand Headspace Health’s ability to provide personalized self-care content to its growing global member base.

Founded in 2018 and backed by Y Combinator in 2020, Sayana has supported users around the world to improve their mental wellness by helping its members become more mindful of the connections between their feelings and events … Sayana personalizes users’ experiences based on their check-ins and mood trends, surfacing high-quality content and self-care exercises rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance commitment therapy (ACT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), as well as breathing exercises…

With the addition of Sayana, Headspace Health will advance its capability to personalize member experiences — to better understand, support and improve their feelings and mood … The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

News in Context:

• Headspace and Ginger merge to expand and scale up digital mental health
• The landscape of digital mental health apps: huge unmet needs, quality concerns, app stores asked to ensure transparency
• The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) shares discussion paper to help empower 8 billion minds via the ethical adoption of digital mental health and neurotech

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