Tech therapy
Last week, two developments showed companies continue to bet on an AI-fueled future for mental health care. Sword Health, best known for its digital musculoskeletal offering, raised $40M to expand into mental health, leveraging agentic AI, continuous clinician access, and a proprietary wearable. Meanwhile, Headspace launched a clinical therapy offering (eligible for insurance), enabling access to in-network practitioner-led therapy alongside a clinically-trained genAI chatbot.
As consumers increasingly turn to large language models like ChatGPT for mental health support, some caution that genAI is introducing new mental health risks. As innovators develop purpose-built solutions for mental health and researchers evaluate how to mitigate harm, early findings remain mixed—making ongoing validation essential to identify which models can truly deliver evidence-based, empathetic mental health care.
PSA: Happy early 4th of July! We’re skipping next week’s Rock Weekly to celebrate the holiday, but we’ll be back on the 7th with our H1 market overview. Stay tuned!
Applications for the 2025 RockHealth.org Innovation Fellowship are due Thursday, July 10. The Fellowship is an immersive cohort-based experience that supports and amplifies the work of visionary leaders centering lived experience in digital health innovation. Learn more and apply today!
Headlines
UHS Partners With Hippocratic AI To Launch AI Agents
Positive patient feedback on genAI agents monitoring post-discharge leads to pilot expansion Healthcare Dive
Oura, Maven Clinic Team Up To Bring Biometric Data Into Clinical Care
Maven Clinic members will be able to sync Oura Ring metrics and insights to care teams CNBC
Polar Takes On Whoop With Subscription-Free Screenless Wearable
New wrist heart rate and activity tracker will be launched without an ongoing subscription cost Forbes
Groundbreaking Remote Surgery: Patient Was In Africa; Doctor Was In Florida
Successful telesurgery performed 7,000 miles away is a breakthrough for remote care interventions ABC News
GI Health Programs Reduce Sick Days For Employees
Findings from virtual digestive health provider Cylinder show GI care yields cost savings Employee Benefit News
Anne Wojcicki Wins Bid To Buy Back 23andMe For $305M
Co-founder and CEO outbid competitors with another nonprofit she founded, TTAM Research Institute Medtech Dive
Trump Administration Gives Personal Data Of Immigrant Medicaid Enrollees To Deportation Officials
Concerns mount on how health data is used by federal agencies AP News
Recent Funding
- Commure adds $200M to grow its healthcare operating system for providers
- Tennr reels in $101M to develop its AI-models for healthcare operations and workflows
- AI-powered clinical documentation solution Nabla raises $70M
- Virtual MSK care provider Sword Health picks up $40M
- Collaborative diabetes and insulin management platform Glytec rings up $36M
- HOPPR, a tool to accelerate the development of AI-imaging analysis platforms, inks $32M
- Mealogic, a tech platform to support D2C food as medicine programs, eats up $16M
- Quilt Health nabs $6M for its AI tool to streamline clinical trial access for complex care patients
- Personalized metabolic health and functional medicine provider Veracity lands $6M