Headspace and Ginger merge to treat the mind

The Future. Meditation app Headspace and teletherapy platform Ginger are joining forces to tackle full mindfulness treatment. Dubbed Headspace Health, the combined company wants to be a one-stop shop for all things mental health, tackling everything from meditation to psychiatry. As mental health takes center stage in culture, Headspace Health may soon be a part of most benefits packages.

Matters of the mind
Headspace and Ginger are getting inside each other’s heads.

• The combined company will be called Headspace Health (which was, ironically, the name of an abandoned Headspace project that tried to get FDA approval).
• The company hopes to offer users services ranging from coaching to therapy to meditation, and even psychiatric care.
• Under the deal, Ginger CEO Russell Glass will take on the role of CEO of Headspace Health, while Headspace CEO CeCe Morken will be installed as President.
• The two company’s respective products will stay separate for now, but will merge in the near future.

The combined company is valued at $3 billion.

“Pandemics within the pandemic”
Headspace CEO Morken says that the company’s goal is for products to be “reimbursable by insurers,” especially as mental health concerns have skyrocketed in the past year during COVID. According to online-screening platform Mental Health American, anxiety screenings saw a 93% jump last year compared to 2019, while depression screenings saw a 62% jump.

Headspace and Ginger’s merger is also a byproduct of the huge growth in the digital mental health industry overall, which has sent companies like Lyra Health, Hims and Hers, and Calm to multi-billion dollar valuations.

Calm, Headspace’s biggest rival, surpassed Headspace in both investment and user growth the past couple of years, though competition is fierce. By combining with Ginger, Headspace is hoping to ensure its place on the meditation throne.