Young Indians are struggling at work. Long, unstructured hours, toxic managers, a lack of cohesive goals and other realities of a services-driven economy are taking a toll on the world’s largest cohort of working-age people.
Facing accusations of fostering a toxic work culture, Indian companies are starting to invest in employee mental health care
Young Indians are struggling at work. Long, unstructured hours, toxic managers, a lack of cohesive goals and other realities of a services-driven economy are taking a toll on the world’s largest cohort of working-age people.
Companies are struggling too. A lack of the right skillset, a generation fixated on work-life balance, people quiet-quitting or moonlighting is making it difficult for them to maintain productivity.
And in the middle of these struggles, mental health start-ups are seeing an opportunity.
In 2024, mental health start-ups raised $8.52mn, six times more than the $1.43mn they had raised in 2023, according to Tracxn data. This is a massive rise. Just four years ago, mental health start-ups had managed to raise only $237,000.
A report by venture capital firm Blume has pegged India’s mental health economy a $3bn opportunity.
Soniya Sadhnani of start-up incubator IIMA Ventures says mental health currently is among the top-performing segments within healthcare. IIMA Ventures has invested heavily in multiple mental health ventures.
For now, much of the business that is coming to mental health start-ups is from companies. Sadhnani says companies are investing heavily in mental health programmes for employees, a phenomenon that caught on after the pandemic.
India is home to around 450 mental health start-ups and accounts for 6% of such start-ups globally. Many of these companies were born following the pandemic and have continued to mushroom at a time when more and more young Indians are reporting anxiety and stress due to the pressures of work.
What has also helped is the recognition of mental health as a critical part of overall well-being, according to Sandesh Cadabam, founder, Cadabam’s Mintalk, a mental healthcare provider. Cadabam says, “Venture capitalists are showing interest in start-ups that are using technology to deliver data-driven solutions. They are looking at business models that can demonstrate a strong balance between profitability and social impact.”
He adds that as more and more businesses start to value employee mental health, the number of corporate mental health programmes will keep rising. Other industry players say that while mental health start-ups work on multiple business models, investors like subscription-based models best. In this model, users get to use mental healthcare services by paying a monthly fee.
While founders say the number of users of mental-health services has gone up, stigma around accessing mental healthcare continues to hinder progress.
Mental health is finally getting the attention it needs at workplaces and colleges but the stigma around mental health still makes people hesitate to come forward with their problems or even participate in mental health surveys, according to Richa Singh, co-founder of personalised mental wellness platform YourDost.
Krishna Veer Singh, founder and chief executive of mental health platform Lissun, says that while investor interest in mental health is increasing, the business still lags behind other markets such as fintech, gaming and adtech.
“Mental health is not a top-five investment priority,” he says, adding, “but it has strong potential for profitability through high-margins—particularly when customer retention and tailored solutions enhance the business model’s stickiness.” His company Lissun, founded in 2021, is among three mental-health focussed firms to have raised money in 2024.
What is also limiting growth is that most mental healthcare providers are providing the same solutions to everyone, which does not work, according to Singh. Singh advocates better customisation of care so that users of these services feel comfortable and trust such companies.
Though the demand for mental health care is seeing a consistent rise, the supply side is far from catching up.
A survey of 800 people by Bengaluru-based mental health focused non-profit White Swan Foundation found that 56% of respondents report mental health challenges and 64.3% know at least one colleague who is suffering from such challenges.
Yet, only 24.6% say their workplaces are supportive in case of mental health challenges and a similar number say they have received any kind of support.
The Union government is paying attention to the mental health challenges young Indians are facing.
While presenting the Budget for 2023–24, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had spoken extensively about mental health and had highlighted its importance for policy making. This year, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has allocated Rs 1,010 crore to the mental health budget, up from Rs 919 crore last year.
A bulk of this money will go towards funding the National Tele Mental Health Programme (T-MANAS) and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS).
Industry players, however, think the government can do more. Aman Agrawal, co-founder and chief executive of mental health start-up Unfazed, says the government should offer subsidies and tax incentives to mental health start-ups so that they can function effectively.
Agrawal believes government support will incentivise other companies to invest in mental health start-ups and that will eventually help build a strong mental health support infrastructure. He is also calling for mandatory employee awareness programmes and employee wellness programmes in public-sector undertakings and mental health insurance.
Other industry players demand better policy reforms, public-private partnerships and additional scaling of the mental health ecosystem in India and making access to mental health care services a norm.