Ginger.io: Transforming Smartphones into 360-Degree Mental Health Guardians

Sometimes, when you visit a doctor, you may find yourself unable to answer the physician’s questions or accurately describe your symptoms and how you are feeling. In such moments, you might wish for a software application that knows your body intimately and can facilitate communication between you and your doctor. Did you know? Such remarkable software already exists. Seemingly mundane smartphone usage patterns conceal profound insights; they not only reflect how we spend our days but also capture our psychological state at every moment.

Based on this logic, in 2011, Ginger.io, a company based in San Francisco, creatively launched an analytics platform capable of determining whether users were experiencing abnormal psychological states and whether they should receive appropriate psychotherapy. Although one in ten people suffers from a mental disorder, most individuals remain unaware of their condition. With timely and appropriate intervention, mental disorders are entirely treatable. Thus, Ginger.io serves as an innovative application that leverages big data analytics to facilitate early detection and treatment of mental health issues.


Ginger.io Target Users

The positioning is very clear; any entity that meets the following four criteria may be a potential customer:

Residing in the United States
18 to 65 years old
Owning an Android or iPhone smartphone
Currently experiencing depressive symptoms

Ginger.io Product Features

For Ginger.io, user usage data is critical: while smartphone usage may appear to us as mere log entries, it serves as a valuable source of data analytics for Ginger.io. By conducting in-depth analysis of this data, Ginger.io can assess users’ psychological well-being. Through Ginger.io, users also receive meticulous clinical support. Since each individual has distinct smartphone usage patterns, any sudden deviation from their daily behavioral routines triggers an alert to the assigned clinical care team, enabling them to prepare for emergency intervention and prevent adverse events.

Ginger.io Product Features

For Patients:
How Does Ginger.io Assess Mental State Through Mobile Phone Usage? In fact, sensor data is crucial! Ginger.io monitors the timing of user activities and the number of phone calls made, while also posing a few simple questions to gather information that helps interpret signals from the user’s body. When changes are detected, Ginger.io alerts close contacts, such as family members, friends, and physicians.


For Physicians:
Ginger.io is a symptom-based, data-driven, and needs-centric mobile application.
1. Easier Data Access: The integration of smartphones enables physicians to more readily collect patient information and obtain feedback on test results.



2. Automated Analysis Process: Through a physician-facing web dashboard, Ginger.io’s behavioral analytics engine helps clinicians better understand changes in patients’ physiological and psychological states.



3. Provide more rapid assistance to patients: When a patient’s analysis results indicate an emotional low, changes in behavioral patterns, or a lack of timely feedback, Ginger.io immediately notifies the physician to provide assistance.



So, what information does Ginger.io collect?

Ginger.io primarily collects two types of information—active and passive data.
1. Proactive Information
Active information is derived from your responses to the surveys conducted by Ginger.io. The survey questions vary depending on the circumstances. In general, the questions cover your current physical condition, treatment plan, and psychological status, among other aspects. The answers to these questions provide us with a comprehensive health assessment.

2. Passive Information
Passive information is obtained from your phone via sensor data.
1) Interactive Information: Ginger.io monitors your call and text messaging patterns. It does not track the content of your calls or messages, but rather analyzes your behavioral patterns—such as the number of calls made, call duration, the number of distinct contacts communicated with, and the timing of these interactions, among other metrics.

2) Geographic Location: GPS is primarily used to capture geographic data and track your daily movements. We can also monitor the distance you travel on foot or by bicycle each day. Ginger.io does not perform continuous tracking, so there is no need to worry about excessive battery drain.

3. Users need not worry at all about personal privacy issues



Anmol Madan, CEO of Ginger.io


Anmol Madan is a co-founder of the company and a data scientist. He has extensive experience in social mobile computing, pattern recognition, machine perception, and computational social science. From 2006 to 2007, he served as a project manager at Microsoft. From 2007 to September 2010, he was a Ph.D. candidate and research assistant at the MIT Media Lab.

Other Company Information

Ginger.io integrates big data with healthcare, building individualized user models by leveraging smartphone data. By analyzing information such as text messages, call logs, and location data, it predicts conditions like influenza. This model is based on research conducted by an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) laboratory, which analyzed over 320,000 hours of participant data, achieving a prediction accuracy exceeding 90%.

The company acquired Pipette, also a startup, on March 9, 2012, for an undisclosed amount. Pipette, which originated from the Rock Health incubator, leverages big data and algorithms to educate patients, facilitate rehabilitation, and reduce the likelihood of readmission.

Since its inception, the company has completed five rounds of investment, secured funding from 14 institutional investors, and raised a total of $28.2 million:
March 1, 2011: Received investment from Techstars
May 1, 2011: Received investment from Rock Health
October 1, 2011: Secured $1.7 million in seed investment
Investors: LaunchCapital, Bill Warner, Ty Curry, James Joaquin, Walt Winshall, Eniac Ventures

November 28, 2012: Secured Series A funding of RMB 6.5 million
Investors: Romulus Capital, Khosla Ventures, True Ventures

On December 23, 2014, secured $20 million in Series B funding
Investors: True Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures

 

To learn more about VCBeat’s “Series Reports on the 30 Most Promising Healthcare Startups to Watch in 2015,” please click the link “Series Report: Table of Contents”