One Mind Accelerator

 

Supercharging Mental Health Startups for Faster Breakthroughs

The One Mind Accelerator seeks to address the global mental health crisis at scale and with a sense of urgency through the power of entrepreneurship.

The Accelerator empowers founders with the catalytic tools- network, education, and capital- to build robust, scalable, and ethical companies that take innovations to market faster and with greater impact for people facing mental illness. One Mind leverages its vast network of world-class investors, founders, operators, scientists, payers, providers, policymakers, and lived experience advocates to accelerate the cohort’s path to startup success.

Applications for the next One Mind Accelerator are now live! We will be taking applications for our next cohort, running in Spring 2024 until December 1, 2023. We will invest in 10 mental health companies with a $100,000 investment and 9 weeks of intensive programming designed to help founders rapidly take their companies to the next level. The program will commence the first week of March with a week of in-person programming in Menlo Park, California. Apply or refer a founder today!

Applications are open until December 1st, 2023

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Key Benefits for Founders

Mentoring

Receive advice, coaching, and hands on training from top-tier mentors across the mental health ecosystem and beyond to fast-track your company building activities.

Community

Become a part of One Mind’s multi-stakeholder network of individuals and organizations with a strong commitment to helping one another to advance mental health.

Brand Development

Leverage One Mind’s All Media division to build your company’s brand through unique content development, thought leadership opportunities, and traditional media and PR activities.

Capital

Receive ~$100K SAFE investment with founder friendly terms, introductions to investors with a track record of investing in mental health, and coaching to raise your next round.

Perks

Leverage significant discounts and in-kind services from top providers including AWS, HubSpot, Silicon Valley Bank, and Brex to grow your business rapidly.

Business Development

Warm intros to prospective partners, customers, and the lived experience community to validate product and market.

Key Focus Areas

Key focus areas include, but are not limited to:

  • Small Molecules Drugs & Biologics
  • Psychedelics
  • Biomarkers & Diagnostics
  • Closed-Loop Neurostimulation
  • Precision Psychiatry 
  • Metabolic Psychiatry
  • Digital Therapeutics
  • Social Determinants 
  • SMI-focused Services
  • Patient Engagement
  • Deep Tech / AI-Powered Solutions

Advisors, Mentors, Speakers

Spring 2023 Cohort

Ceretype

Ceretype is an in-market, audit-cleared brain “biomarker engine” – a novel fMRI platform incorporating optimal image acquisition and advanced analytics that de-risks and accelerates the development of psychiatric and neurological therapies.
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Flock Health

Flock is a digital health company working to detect and reduce acute mental health crises for patients suffering from Serious Mental Illness and, in doing so, improve patient wellbeing and health outcomes while lowering spend on inpatient and emergency care.
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Flourish Labs

A mental health company designed for Gen Z, growing the mental health workforce by training certified peer supporters and delivering 1-on-1 peer support for young adults and teenagers on a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform.
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Flowly

Flowly is a clinically validated platform for managing stress and building resilience in teams. Using a mobile app and VR headset, Flowly collects biometric data such as heart rate and converts it to visualizations in virtual experiences that reduce feelings of stress and burnout by 20 – 100%.
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Heading Health

Heading Health is a mental healthcare provider offering a personalized and holistic approach to treatment, guided by cutting-edge research and technology.
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Motif Neurotech

Motif Neurotech is a company creating minimally invasive bioelectronic implants that monitor and treat severe mental health conditions.
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Options MD

Options MD is a telehealth company enabling patients to access mental health care and treatment options that address severe and treatment-resistant mental illnesses, starting with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
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Sanarai

Sanarai is a mental health platform for Spanish-speakers, addressing the gap in mental health offering for the Latinx community.
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Somethings

Somethings is a platform connecting teenagers with certified Peer Mentors who are trained to provide mental health support through a novel, digital first care delivery method.
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Tetricus Labs

Tetricus Labs is a precision psychiatry company leveraging breakthrough AI computational neuroscience to deliver the right diagnosis and treatment recommendation for every patient.
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Zama Health

ZAMA is a sports psychology and mental wellbeing platform for athletes and the broader fitness community. Specifically, the platform provides access to digital modules, a peer community, motivational support, and a clinical network that optimizes both the mental and physical health of its users. ZAMA is a B2B SaaS platform that contracts directly with athletic departments, fitness companies, and gyms.
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Accelerator FAQs

Learn everything you need to know to apply for the next round of funding.

When can I apply for the next program?

Applications will be open until December 1st, 2023 for our Spring 2024 program.

What are the dates of the next program?

The One Mind Accelerator Spring 2024 program will run from the first week of March until the first week of May, 2024. Final dates will be announced shortly.

Is the program in-person?

The first and last weeks will be in-person in the San Francisco Bay Area (some Menlo Park, a day-trip to Napa). The intervening 7 weeks will be virtual.

What types of companies is the One Mind Accelerator looking for?

The scope of the Accelerator is broad. One Mind will invest in startups across a wide range of mental health conditions and solutions. At one end of the spectrum, these could be service-based companies innovating on patient engagement, access, quality of care, and care delivery models. At the other end, these could be “deep science / deep tech” companies commercializing breakthrough discovery platforms, diagnostics, and treatments with the goal of realizing the promise of precision psychiatry. 

Some areas we’re interested in exploring include social determinants of mental illness, patient engagement, AI / ML derived biomarkers,, closed-loop neurostimulation, psychedelics, metabolic psychiatry, and more. Of note, companies focusing on serious mental illness (as defined by the NIMH) will be given special attention.

What stage of company is right for the One Mind Accelerator?

We’re focusing on companies from Seed to Series B. Stages can be blurry, but in general we’re looking for fully committed teams (see below) that are ready to rapidly develop their product and grow their business to the next level.

How do we select the companies we invest in?

Our process is straightforward. You can submit your application here. We review every application that we receive. The full process can be seen below:

Step One: Submit application & video pitch

Step Two: Interview with Program Director & Chief Science Officer 

Step Three: Submit scientific research, white papers, etc. for review by One Mind’s Scientific Advisory Board  

Step Four: Interview with a top-tier panel of Venture Capitalists from the One Mind Accelerator Governing Council 

Step Five: Receive an offer to participate & begin the onboarding process

Founders get real-time feedback from experts as a part of the interview process that they can incorporate into their business, regardless of whether they participate in the program or not. 

Some of the most important factors we’re tracking: 

Team: Are you working full-time? Do you have at least one full-time co-founder? Is there someone with relevant clinical expertise on the team? Do you and your co-founder have complementary skillsets? Can you incorporate feedback and make necessary pivots while staying true to your vision? 

Problem: Will your business move the needle in a meaningful way for people living with Serious Mental Illness? Will you be able to do it at scale over the long term?  

Differentiation: Do you have something that can’t easily be copied by the next team? This can be novel scientific research, an innovative business model or new way of delivering care that outperforms alternatives currently on the market. 

Traction: For some businesses, the best proof of traction is sales. For others, it might be securing a reputable partner for a clinical trial or existing evidence of efficacy. We just want to see that you have demonstrated demand for the thing you’re building in a meaningful way.

What type of investment do participating companies receive?

We invest $100,000 into each company that participates in the program in the form of a SAFE that matches the valuation of your last fundraising round. These terms are more founder friendly than those offered by other top accelerators, while still providing One Mind with a fair ownership stake. Capital is only a small part of the value of the accelerator. The One Mind network, community, and support in all aspects of company-building are the real value propositions for founders that go through the program.

Is $100K enough to make a difference in my business?

The $100K investment is intended to give you some breathing room while you participate in the program, and show our follow-on investors that we have conviction in the companies we’re presenting to them come Demo Day. Capital is one small part of the value you’ll get from the One Mind Accelerator.

What value will my startup get from The One Mind Accelerator?
  • We’ve built this program from the ground up to be tailor-made for founders in the mental health space. We bring together the best minds from the mental health world including healthcare providers, insurance companies, large employers, neuroscientists, founders, policymakers and people with first hand experience with mental illness to give you an inside look at how the system works. As a participant in the Accelerator you’ll gain access to all of One Mind’s resources: 
  • Mentorship: We have leaders that cover every aspect of building a mental health company. Our mentor pool includes successful founders that have raised $50M+; heads of innovation for major healthcare companies; legal, marketing, product and growth experts that know the intricacies of working in the field of mental health and who are passionate about helping founders maximize their impact. Your mentors will be by your side throughout the program and in many cases, well beyond. 
  • Research & Patient Communities: Get access to research from One Mind-backed research and our partners including McKinsey, the NIMH, UCSF,  Stanford Neuroscience and more. 
  • One Mind at Work: Our initiative comprised of hundreds of top companies dedicated to improving mental health in the workplace. Our membership includes senior decision-makers from Fortune 500s and major players across the healthcare system from payers & providers to the largest pharmaceutical companies. This access can make an enormous difference to startups looking for pilots & first-hand customer feedback. Learn more here.

  • One Mind All Media: Our media division has developed and backed mental-health focused content at the highest levels, including Ken Burn’s latest documentary on mental health: Hiding in Plain Sight. The team includes Emmy and Peabody award winners who can help your company develop & produce a content plan that will educate & inform your target audience.
Will this distract me from building my company?

The Accelerator will require between 5-10 hours per week, but everything you’ll be doing will help move your business in the right direction. The opening week in-person in Menlo Park, CA will be 9am-5pm Monday-Friday with team dinners every night. We’re focused on action over lectures, and every step of the program will either prompt you to answer key questions about your business, make connections with valuable industry contacts, or develop your product & business model further.

What role will One Mind take in governing my company?

We strongly believe that founding teams should have autonomy in running their companies. For that reason, our investment does not require a board seat. However, we may selectively ask for board seats when we believe it is in the best interest of the founding team and One Mind to do so. Our goal is to develop a strong working relationship with each of our founding teams where we are a valued advisor as opposed to formally dictating changes in the business.

What is a typical day like?

An average day in the accelerator could include a workshop on a key topic to your business, a panel with industry insiders, relationship building with decision-makers at major providers and payers, founder stories from some of the best in the mental health space and breakouts with your classmates designed to keep you accountable and on track with your business goals.

What happens when the program ends?

You’ll be added to our alumni community and will have lifetime access to the One Mind Accelerator team and our network of partners, investors, mentors. One of the most valuable components of the program is getting to know nine other founding teams that are passionate about solving the mental health crisis.

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