Wellknowlogy: 11/5/22

Wellknowlogy is a curious, honest, and caring source of weekly news & thoughts on innovations in the wellness industry; an efficient way for providers, technologists, investors, and enthusiasts to stay in sync and informed about endeavors to increase wellbeing. For more context surrounding Wellknowlogy, the motives behind it, and its purpose, check out Why Wellknowlogy. For filtered information concerning your particular venture, reach out to [email protected]

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Apologies for the late update this week. I'm at a psychedelic medicine conference learning a lot and I'm going to let it simmer until next week's email.

Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of fascinating approaches to mental health and more general therapeutics being discussed that I'm excited to share in the future. Therapy to nurture intimacy in relationships? VR instigating dissociative states to nurture greater acceptance of therapy without any drugs? 

Pretty cool.

That being said, I've found it important to recognize that most of the stuff discussed here is a part of a possible future. The prospect of paradigm shifts is exciting, alluring, and veiled in uncertainty.

It's areas like the future of mental health treatment, where the implications of new modalities extend past the the success or failure of treating symptoms, that being thoughtful, ethical, and grounded in principles serve as a necessary compass as we explore new terrain.

With that out of the way, here's what happened this past week:

Neat Articles

• An expert-informed introduction to psychedelic assisted therapy

• How can psilocybin affect mental health? – Forbes Health

• Short bursts of vigorous activity associated with increased longevity

• The politics of veterans and psychedelics

• Here’s what the first generation of teletherapy got wrong

• Why are health and wellness apps accelerating mindfulness?

• Only 1 in 4 accurately assess the healthiness of their diet

• Inside Paul Stamets’ massive microdosing study

Market News

• Google quietly acquired a Seattle digital health startup that built an app to monitor breathing

• Soja juice acquires wellness shots company vive organic

• Population health company Color Health acquires mental health platform mood Lifters

• Intellect partners with Tinder to support mental well-being amongst young adult singles in Southeast Asia

• WHOOP enters brick-and-mortar retail through Best Buy

• Neurorack develops 3-minute digital test to screen for cognitive impairment during annual wellness visits

Fundings

• Sleepiz secures €800K in funding and joins the largest U.S. telemedicine organization

• Gen Z fitness app Stepppen raises $1.65M seed round

• Main Sequence Ventures, Lionheart Ventures back Aussie psychedelics start-up Psylo

• Kaya is raising $680K for its virtual mental health platform

• Healthcare startup Gabbi lands $4.4M to help women assess breast cancer risk and take action

• VR therapy vendor Floreo raises $10M, partners with CareSourceOneSkin raises $12M

• Breathonics raises capital in pre-series a funding from leading Web3 investor OliveX

• Midi Health secures $14M investment to bring expert midlife care for women 40+

• Heura snags $20M funding chunk for its plant-based proteins ahead of beefier B round next year

• Buddha Brands™ closes $5.25M investment funding with Fondaction

• Southeast Asia-focused vitamin brand YOUVIT raises $6M in a series B funding led by Unilever Ventures

• Valera Health announces $45M growth equity financing to increase access to evidence-based mental health services for high acuity patients

• Telehealth startup Options MD raised $3.8M in pre-seed funding to expand mental health platform

• Floreo closes $10M series A round to build ‘behavioral therapy metaverse'

New funds:

• Human Impact Capital is a new $50M fund investing in social impact startups

• Seventure Partners Health for Life III microbiome innovation fund to be released in 2023 with €300M

Tidbits for You and Yours

• A terrific podcast on ketamine therapy

• A brief explanation: the link between gut and mental health

• Naturopathic doctor Natasha Vani explains how changing health habits can impact chronic disease

Closing Kernel of Wisdom

(Loose paraphrase) Sobriety is not just about substances. It's about living a life where you're consistently acting out of love for your self and free from the impact of shame. 

-Seano McFarland

You got to the end! Nice. I don't charge for this, but if you value this enough to give me money, feel free to do so — my venmo is @dsimenz. Also, please forward this to anyone that may appreciate it. I'll give them a button below to check out previous emails and add them to the list:

Wishing you a great week to come.

Warmly,

Dayton