Digital mental health company Headspace Health has acquired Sayana, maker of AI-enabled mental health-tracking and sleep apps.

Sayana’s Self-Care app uses chat sessions with an AI dubbed Sayana that tracks their feelings and connects them to their experiences and actions. It also offers different content and exercises, depending on the information a user provides and their mood trends. It also has a self-care app geared toward the employer market for managing stress and anxiety.

Sayana’s Sleep app tracks when users go to sleep and how they feel. It also offers guided sessions and soundscapes to help them fall asleep.

"Since our inception, we’ve been on a mission at Sayana to put self-care in everyone’s pocket," Sergey Fayfer, founder and CEO of Sayana, said in a statement.

"We’re thrilled to bring together our technology, engineering and design expertise to help advance Headspace Health’s efforts to democratize high-quality, affordable mental healthcare around the world." Fayfer will serve in a product leadership role at Headspace. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Headspace said the deal will add to its AI capabilities, allowing it to personalize content and experiences based on a user's needs. 

"Amidst a rapidly growing landscape of mental health and wellness apps, Sayana has developed a uniquely engaging member experience backed by world-class AI and machine learning algorithms,” Russell Glass, CEO of Headspace Health, said in a statement.

“Sayana's technology, and most importantly Sayana’s team, will help us meaningfully advance our product and content strategy as we continue to build the world’s most comprehensive mental health and wellbeing platform."

THE LARGER TREND

Headspace Health is the result of a merger between meditation app Headspace and digital mental health giant Ginger, which closed in October. 

When the deal was announced, the companies pitched their combination as a way to address the growing need and shortage of mental health professionals in the U.S.

"Headspace and Ginger have a shared recognition that the mental health crisis can’t be solved by simply hiring more therapists or moving care online,” Glass, formerly Ginger's CEO, said in a statement at the time. “Through this merger, we can uniquely tackle the full spectrum of mental health needs – from prevention to clinical care – all from one integrated platform."

But the digital mental and behavioral health space is a crowded one. Rock Health's third quarter analysis of digital health noted the space had raked in $3.1 billion in investors dollars by that time in 2021. 

Other companies focused on the clinical area include SonderMind, Meru Health and Lyra Health.