US-based mental health diagnostics technology developer Mindstrong Health has received $14m in a series A round including Optum Ventures, a venture capital subsidiary of healthcare provider UnitedHealth Group.
VC firms Foresite Capital and Arch Venture Partners co-led the round, which also featured Berggruen Holdings, which functions as the investment vehicle for The Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Trust, and non-profit investor One Mind Brain Health Impact Fund.
Founded in 2014, Mindstrong Health uses artificial intelligence and smartphone technology to track patterns of behaviour in order to help diagnose and treat neuropsychiatric disorders.
The company will use the funding to expand its technology and clinical operations team to support large-scale research and development plans.
Tom Insel, co-founder and president of Mindstrong Health, said: “What excites me about Mindstrong is the transformation of an individual’s patterns of typing or scrolling on a smartphone into precise measures of cognitive function.
“This new, powerful approach to assessment serves as the foundation for developing better interventions to improve mental healthcare. Mental disorders are global health problems. With smartphones we have a potential global solution.”