of unicorns, nascent players are
(or will soon) facing pressure to
demonstrate both clinical efficacy
and financial returns in the form of
exits — both of which remain largely
unproven to-date. In line with the
maturation of the general digital
health space, there is reason to
believe we will soon see tangible
financial and empirical results.
To date, M&A is the most popular
exit outcome in the space, although
these deals generally take one of
two forms: top-tier behavioral health
startups acquiring smaller players
to develop specific capabilities or
non-behavioral health-exclusive
generalists making plays to enter
or build out their capabilities in
the space. Public market exits
for behavioral health-exclusive
platforms remain almost non-
existent: Talkspace's planned $1.4B
SPAC debut is the first major shoe
to drop. Even as deal sizes swell and
the first generation of behavioral
health startups age, we expect that
this will not yet open the floodgates
this year as freely-available
private capital enables longer
runways and higher valuations.
Much has been done in recent
years to bring attention to — and
destigmatize — behavioral health,
particularly in the US. COVID
accelerated the transition to digital
behavioral health and investors
have poured money into the space.
Whether the increasing shift to
digital will continue post pandemic
— and at what level — will likely
depend on the pace of continued
technological advances and the
efficacy of this delivery method. As
with anything else, there are pros
and cons to digital behavioral health,
and no one size fits all. Often the
biggest hurdle in establishing a
new habit is trying something for
the first time— and, thanks in large
part to the pandemic, many people
have done just that. That said, we
can likely all agree with Fred Wilson's
sentiment in his recent newsletter
around the future of healthcare: "I
hope the last fifteen months is the
proof point that change is possible
and that we can keep innovating
and improving the experience
without a crisis forcing it on us."
Click here to read on and
learn more!
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S P O T L I G H T
