Welcome back to Equity, TechCrunchs' venture capital-focused podcast! Here we explain the numbers behind the headlines. Happy Saturday!
We couldn't resist jumping on the mics for a bonus episode after Headspace, a meditation app, and Ginger, an on-demand mental health platform, announced their merging. We were all ready for some hot takes so Alex and Natasha held the conversation via Twitter Spaces. We were not disappointed by the special guests who we hosted, which you can see below.
This is a short show but you should listen if you are curious about why a meditation app would be into therapy, the precedent set by Lyra Health and Calm and what consolidation looks like for the sector in the future.
These are the people who helped us understand and contextualize news stories:
Lux Capital partner Deena Shahkir (who will also be coming to Disrupt)
Chrissy Farr, OMERS Ventures (whom you may also recognize as a former CNBC journalist in the healthech space).
7WireVentures Alyssa Jaffee (who needs a podcast because she shined during the Spaces)
Special shout out to Ginger CEO Russell Glass who joined the Space, but was unable to make it onto the stage due to technical problems. Although Twitter Spaces are great fun, the platform is still in its infancy so mistakes can happen live.
We were able to obtain some notes via email from him, so let's take a look at them:
Glass stated that he agrees with Chrissy Farr's comments about not enough therapists on the market to meet overwhelming demand. He also said that Headspace Health has a global need for a comprehensive, scaled platform that can truly decentralize mental health care.
He double-clicked on the discussion regarding future meaningful market consolidation. Noting that he expects it to happen especially in areas that deal with severe mental illness and higher acuity care, he also double-clicked.
Follow the podcast on Twitter to be notified when we go live. These are intended to be spontaneous pop-up shows so you can turn on notifications to ensure that you don't miss any Spaces. That's it. Thanks everyone!
Equity drops Mondays at 7:00 AM PDT, Wednesdays at 7:00 AM PDT, Fridays at 7:00 AM PDT. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts and Overcast as well as Spotify and all other podcasts.
