Modern Health Serves Over 190 Enterprises with Employee Mental Health Support Programs

Research data from the United Kingdom indicates that mental health issues caused by stress result in annual losses equivalent to 10% of GDP, through direct medical costs and indirect costs such as work absenteeism. This has spurred the emergence of a cohort of mental health service companies specializing in employee assistance programs, with Modern Health being one of them.

Recently, Modern Health announced the completion of a $51 million Series C financing round. The round was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Felicis Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, and others. The funds will primarily be used to expand the company’s service offerings and strengthen its data analytics capabilities. Following the completion of this financing, and to support the company’s rapid growth, Roger Lee, Partner at Battery Ventures, and the former CEO of SimplexPenny HerscherWill join the board of directors of Modern Health.

 Modern Health Financing History

Since its inception, Modern Health has secured four rounds of financing, including two large-scale rounds rapidly completed in 2020. The company’s swift acquisition of capital and market recognition can be largely attributed to its operational service model and precise service positioning.

Modern Health, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA, is an employee mental health management company. The company boasts a unique digital platform that provides a comprehensive suite of mental health solutions for corporations and their employees.

Alyson Friedensohn is the Founder & CEO of Modern Health. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and later joined the PwC Health Research Institute as a Chief Regulatory Analyst, where she engaged in strategic analysis for the healthcare industry.

Before founding Modern Health, Alyson Friedensohn worked in the healthcare industry, joining the health management platform Keas (now acquired by Welltok) and the healthcare technology company Collective Health, where she accumulated extensive experience in product development and operations. In 2019, Alyson Friedensohn was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for the U.S. and Canada and Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list of business elites.

Erica Johnson, co-founder of Modern Health, holds a degree in neurobiology and previously conducted neuroscience research at the University of California, San Francisco. Alyson Friedensohn was named to Fortune’s Business Elite list, an honor also bestowed upon Erica Johnson.

Relevant data show that most U.S. companies purchase Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), also known as Employee Psychological Assistance Programs, for their employees. However, utilization rates remain low due to factors such as stigma and heavy workloads, creating opportunities for the growth of digital mental health platforms like Modern Health.

Furthermore, the U.S. mental health market also faces a shortage of psychotherapists to some extent, meaning that consumers not only incur significant time costs but also pay higher service fees when accessing mental health-related services.

Modern Health has always maintained a clear service positioning: by focusing on the psychological issues of corporate employees, it integrates resources from counselors and therapists to improve service accessibility and reduce costs.

To address employees' mental health concerns, Modern Health provides comprehensive mental illness prevention and treatment services based on remote counseling, evidence-based psychotherapy, and health management, enabling corporate employees to communicate with doctors in real time via text and video online.

Specifically, after enterprises purchase product services, employees can download the Modern Health app and undergo clinical assessments. Based on the assessment results and individual needs, the platform develops personalized psychological intervention plans, which include remote guidance and meditation. The platform also recommends relevant courses and support groups. For employees with diagnosed mental health conditions, the platform facilitates connections with appropriate medical institutions and physicians to provide one-on-one therapeutic services.

Employee Service Access Steps

From a business model perspective, Modern Health secures a more stable and diversified client base through its B2B channel. Currently, it serves over 190 corporate clients, including Pixar and Gusto.

In terms of market layout, Modern Health’s ambitions extend beyond the United States. Currently, Modern Health has established a global service network composed of high-quality licensed psychotherapists and coaches, providing support in over 35 languages. It is reported that Modern Health will continue to meet the growing global demand for mental health services, expanding its language support from 35 to more than 50 languages.

Generally, individuals with similar experiences or conditions find it easier to empathize during interactions. Therefore, Modern Health has established various mental wellness circles based on a range of employee characteristics and organized related sessions. Topics covered in these circles include, but are not limited to, basic mental health education and managing post-holiday stress. The circles and sessions are facilitated by a team of licensed psychotherapists and mental health coaches affiliated with Modern Health.

Various Psychological Healing Circles

To address the privacy needs of visiting employees, the system keeps confidential the information of employees participating in circles and meetings from external parties. Additionally, meeting attendance is subject to certain limits, and meeting content is not recorded. During the meetings, visiting employees can freely express the challenges they are facing or share their experiences in managing mental health through video calls, interactive sessions, and other means.

For enterprises, Modern Health’s services extend beyond providing mental health support to employees. Through collaboration with Modern Health, companies can access customized resource offerings, including research reports, industry consultations, and case studies. This demonstrates that Modern Health’s ability to analyze and synthesize industry information is one of its key strengths.

Leveraging its extensive service data and information, Modern Health is able to provide enterprises and the public with industry research reports backed by robust real-world data, thereby enhancing external understanding of the mental health industry.

The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn increasing attention to the mental health industry, with public awareness of mental health in China continuously rising. However, the B2B business model, where enterprises act as service purchasers, has seen limited progress. For some mental health service providers, their B2B operations focus more on collaborating with other companies to develop new products rather than delivering psychology-related services directly to enterprises and their employees.

In terms of service supply, China’s mental health sector has long faced a shortage of professionals. As new certification standards for psychological counselors have not yet been established, the imbalance between service supply and demand is expected to persist. Therefore, leveraging internet-based platforms can help alleviate this pressure to some extent.

In recent years, with the introduction of various policy guidelines, the model of enterprises as purchasers of services has gradually garnered attention. In July 2019, the Office of the Healthy China Action Promotion Committee held a press conference on the “Mental Health Promotion Action,” requiring government agencies, enterprises, public institutions, and schools to establish mental health service teams or provide mental health services to employees and students through the procurement of services.

Currently, China’s B2B mental health services market remains in its early stages. Driven by supportive policies and increasing market standardization, the sector is poised to enter a period of growth, a development we eagerly anticipate.