Boston-based digital health startup, Marigold Health raises $6 million in its seed funding round. The round was led by KdT Ventures and Felicis Ventures. Other investors were Flare Capital Partners, Epsilon Health Investors, Tau Ventures, SpringTide Investments, and Stand Together Ventures.
Founded by Shrenik Jain and Ravi Shah MS, the venture is a behavioural health company with a unique approach to substance use disorder. The funds would be used to strengthen its workforce and expand into more territories. Marigold works by partnering with primary care clinics and substance use treatment providers. They teamed up with Wood River Health Services in Rhode Island.
Marigold provides clients with text-based, peer-monitored, anonymous group therapy while using a combination of natural language processing and ML to check on client progress. They created a patented novel natural language processing (NLP) technology that helps peers moderate their online community. Their focus is largely on Moderated peer support.
In a study conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse with a 50 sample size, saw that 64% of people were using the Marigold app daily throughout their 2 month-long study period. A major reason behind this is that, post-pandemic there has been a rise in the number of cases related to anxiety and burnout.