Roughly 50% of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental disorder in their lifetime, and 1 in 5 will experience mental illness within a given year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Anxiety, stress and depression are a daily struggle for millions of Americans, and it seems people are starting to take it seriously, including big business.
In America, many of the new innovations meant to help deal with massive issues are solved in the world of startups. You hear about founders getting annoyed by existing solutions, so they decide to create their own and turn it into a business.
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America has a robust and established venture capital (VC) and angel investing network and infrastructure, so top startups can get funding even in downturns. You can always bootstrap it, or build it by rolling forward profits without taking on VC money, but that can take significantly longer.
It seems a new area of focus for VCs are wellness technology startups, which saw a 178% rise in funding in 2021. In 2020, there was roughly $11.4 billion invested in wellness tech startups, a number that grew to a $31.7 billion in 2021, according to Nfluence Partners.
VCs aren’t the only ones investing heavily in wellness startups. Sensate, for example, is one of the top startups raising on Wefunder and has raised over $1.9 million. The startup is doing well, with 363% revenue growth and $2.8 million in revenue in 2021. This growth has attracted institutional investors and VCs like Martin Tobias, who invested $160,000 in Sensate, and VCs like TenOneTen Ventures, Unlock Venture Partners and Expert DOJO.
Sensate makes an innovative device and app used to help relieve stress and manage your personal well-being. Sensate’s patented device uses infrasonic therapy to help your body's nervous system recover from stress and couples well with other techniques like resting or performing yoga.
While Sensate is the No. 2 wellness brand on Wefunder by the amount raised, it isn’t the only one. Dozens of wellness tech startups are on StartEngine and Wefunder, collectively having raised tens of millions this year alone. As this industry and funding environment continues to heat up, these startups present an interesting opportunity for investors to diversify into this hot space.
As always, these investments are speculative and illiquid, so it’s important to do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
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