Australian startup Mindset Health has scooped up $12 million in a Series A funding round led by King River Capital. The round was also joined by Tenmile, Yard Ventures, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, Linktree founders Anthony Zaccaria and Nick Humphreys, and Banana Capital, among others.

Launched in 2018, the company develops a range of hypnosis-based DTx apps which address health conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, menopause, and most recently, smoking cessation. Its apps are currently being used in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

WHAT IT'S FOR

Mindset Health plans to use its fresh funds to develop and launch new DTx apps for anxiety and depression, sleep, and chronic pain. It will also be used to continue its clinical and real-world research programmes to further prove its products' health and economic benefits.

Its latest funds will also go to strengthening its existing apps and enhancing its current hypnotherapy programmes with additional features and personalisation.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Adding to the DTx scene in Australia is a new web-based digital intervention tool that helps cancer survivors manage their fear of cancer recurrence. Called iConquerFear, the digital programme was adapted from the therapist-delivered treatment originally developed by a cancer clinical trial group under the University of Sydney. This digital adaptation contains five modules featuring interactive exercises on goal setting, attention training, and mindfulness. 

Outside Australia, South Korean regulators recently approved the first local DTx for insomnia. The mobile app-based device called Somzz by Aimmed delivers a CBT programme that helps increase sleep duration. 

ON THE RECORD

"The global demand for our hypnotherapy programmes – driven by healthcare practitioners who recognise their effectiveness in supporting patients and recommend their use – has proven our thesis and demonstrated the deep market appetite for easy-to-use solutions that can help people manage and live well with underserved health conditions," Mindset Health co-founder Alex Naoumidis said. 

"This latest financing will support us to continue to meet that demand and in new areas with a broader product offering, as well as funding additional research programs instrumental to producing high-quality digital programs backed by clinical rigour," he added.