Hi friend,

After a few weeks of travel and events, I’m so glad to be back in my own office and in my own routine. Contrary to popular belief, I’m an introvert at heart and very much enjoy being behind a laptop researching and writing. And there’s going to be plenty of that in the coming weeks. Woo!

This week we’re publishing a Market Map on Conversational AI so keep an eye out for that. We’ll also be publishing a Hemingway Guide on Developing Credibility as a Mental Health Business as well as deep-dives on some of the most interesting companies I’ve come across recently. Events-wise, we’ve got IRL meet-ups happening in Sydney, NYC and DC. Spaces are limited and attendance will be prioritised for Hemingway Members, but feel free to register if you are in those cities and would like to attend.

But wait, you say, that’s cool and all but what’s been happening in mental health?

Well, let’s get into it!

⏺️ Tava Health raised a $40M Series C to build out its full-stack behavioural health platform. They also announced the launch of Symphony (an AI-assisted practice management tool for clinicians), a zero-budget employer benefit, and a new care navigation suite. (link)

⏺️ Zócalo Health raised a $15M Series A. The company delivers integrated medical, behavioural, and social care to high-need Medicaid populations through community health workers. It partners with Medicaid managed care organisations including Anthem Blue Cross and Health Net, and grew their revenue 4X in 2025. (link)

⏺️ Brainjo raised a €2M Seed round to develop VR-based Digital Health Applications for mental health. The Germany-based startup builds prescribable VR tools with its first product focused on children with ADHD. Their product is being developed with pharmaceutical partner MEDICE and regulatory approval is targeted for 2028. (link)

⏺️ Tortugas Neuroscience launched with $106M in funding to advance a clinical-stage CNS pipeline. As part of their pipeline, the company is developing a schizophrenia drug (TRTL-107, a D2/D3 partial agonist with 5-HT2A antagonism) licensed from Chinese drugmaker Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group. (link)

⏺️ The Jed Foundation and AFSP are merging. The new entity will be the largest US suicide prevention nonprofit with a combined ~$75M annual operating budget. Pending NY Attorney General approval, the deal is expected to close by fall 2026. (link)

⏺️ Kipu Health acquired Team Recovery Technologies to extend its behavioural health platform into patient engagement and alumni connectivity after treatment ends. (link)

⏺️ ARPA-H announced the first research teams for EVIDENT, a $139M initiative to build objective measurement tools for behavioural health treatments. The programme is funding 13 research teams across four questions — what should we measure, what is happening during treatment, who will respond to what, and how to build a shared data foundation. The selected teams include Johns Hopkins (8 approved psilocybin trials), Attune Neurosciences, Motif Neurotech, NeuroFlow, Holobiome, Diamond Therapeutics, Ksana Health and more. At least $50M is designated for psychedelic research matching state investments, following President Trump's recent executive order on psychedelic treatments. (link)

⏺️ Grow Therapy launched Coach, their AI between-session support tool. Coach has seen 800,000+ messages since its December 2025 phased rollout, with 50% of active providers already having at least one client using the product. Grow also announced a new deal with Amazon, covering more than 1M of Amazon employees. (link / link )

⏺️ Spring Health launched Guide, their AI-led care experience. A Spring Health preprint study found members supported by Guide showed faster symptom improvement in depression and anxiety, with those in greatest need seeing up to 25% greater gains (more on this in the research section below). Guide is currently available to select Spring Health customers. (link)

⏺️ OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Clinicians. The product is offered for free to all verified US clinicians for documentation, research, and care consult tasks. The release includes a new HealthBench Professional benchmark and builds on their enterprise ChatGPT for Healthcare offering. (link)

⏺️ Connecticut fined five insurers including Aetna, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare for mental health parity violations related to inadequate provider networks and disparate reimbursement rates. (link)

⏺️ Novant Health partnered with Amae Health to expand outpatient care for severe mental illness in Charlotte's Mecklenburg County, bringing Amae's integrated psychiatry, therapy, and primary care model to the health system. (link)

⏺️ KyCOMPASS selected Trayt Health to digitally power Kentucky's maternal mental health access programme. (link)

⏺️ The FDA issued priority vouchers to three companies studying psilocybin and MDMA for mental illness, following Trump's psychedelics executive order. (link)

⏺️ Floreo submitted a De Novo request to the FDA for FloreoRx, its VR-based autism therapy. If cleared, it would be the first FDA-authorised therapeutic device for social communication deficits in autism spectrum disorder. (link)

⏺️ Tempero Bio is shutting down following a serious adverse event in its substance use disorder drug development programme. The company raised $70M last year. (link)

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⏺️ The 988 crisis hotline was found to be associated with an 11% drop in youth suicide rates. The findings provide some of the strongest evidence to date for investing in crisis intervention infrastructure. (link)

⏺️ Spring Health AI features shown to boost therapy engagement and improve outcomes. Spring Health published a preprint of study of 26,208 adults showing that access to their AI-enabled continuous care features — guided intake, session summaries, and session takeaways — was associated with 5% more therapy sessions in the first 7 weeks and second sessions completed 0.62 days sooner. Participants with access also showed faster symptom improvement, with effect sizes of d=0.16 for depression (PHQ-9) and d=0.15 for anxiety (GAD-7) at the median 44-day follow-up, translating to an NNT of 25 for reliable improvement on both measures. Effects were strongest among patients with higher baseline severity. Note: all authors are Spring Health employees and equity holders, and the study has not yet been peer-reviewed. (link)

⏺️ No significant difference in outcomes found between solution-focused therapy chatbot and ChatGPT. A pilot study (n=147) published in JMIR Mental Health compared a structured AI therapy app (ChatMind, rooted in solution-focused therapy) against unstructured ChatGPT use and an assessment-only control over three weeks. Both the AI therapy group (d=-0.47) and ChatGPT group (d=-0.44) produced reductions in PHQ-9 depression scores versus the control, but neither outperformed the other on any outcome. Completion rates were 39% in the AI therapy group versus 62% in the ChatGPT group. (link)

⏺️ ChatGPT-4o showed higher concordance with clinician judgement than Gemini 1.5 Pro in suicide risk assessment for adolescents presenting to psychiatric emergency services, in a real-world evaluation study. (link)

⏺️ Researchers published a framework for responsible AI integration in psychiatric care. The framework is built around four non-negotiable system requirements: explainable AI (XAI) for transparency, shared decision-making (SDM) to protect patient autonomy, EHR integration for continuity and accountability, and multilayered harm prevention controls. (link)

⏺️ LB-102, a novel benzamide antipsychotic, met its primary endpoint in a Phase 2 RCT for acute schizophrenia, with 50mg and 75mg doses showing statistically superior PANSS improvements versus placebo. (link)

That’s all for this week.

Keep fighting the good fight!

Steve Duke

Founder of Hemingway

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