Mine’d, a digital platform and wellness network that connects consumers with emotional health experts and community, has raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Listen Ventures. The round was also funded by WNDRCO and Able Partners, Joyance Partners, Route 66 Ventures as well as angel investors Ed Baker, the former vice president of growth at Facebook and Uber, and Jillionaire from Major Lazer. Mine’d features interactive and short-form live and on-demand classes for users based on a wide range of topics, including dating, breakups, career and purpose. Since launching six months ago, Mine’d has built a community of more than 100,000 users and 1 million videos.
The platform was co-founded by wellness-tech entrepreneur Aaron Albert and emotional wellness content creator Mark Groves. Albert, who is now the company’s CEO, says the idea for Mine’d was prompted by his experience with trying to find support after a breakup. He says he found traditional therapy to be expensive and time-consuming, while modern solutions like teletherapy lacked in their quality of care. A friend of his who knew he was having a hard time sent him one of Mark Groves’ wellness videos. Albert says he was immediately taken with Groves’ content and reached out to him, after which the pair began working together.
“I started to explain all of the challenges I faced as a consumer wanting to get emotional support and he expressed to me all of the challenges he faced as a creator of emotional wellness content, not feeling like there was a safe space for his peers amidst the creator economy explosion,” Albert told TechCrunch. “It was very clear there was a real opportunity here, and so Mine’d was born.”
Once users join Mine’d, they’re asked to select the areas they want to improve on. Users are then shown a selection of experts where they can see which areas they specialize in and browse content before choosing who to follow. Users are able to join live sessions where they can ask experts questions and get or give support to the community.
In terms of the new funding, Albert says Mine’d plans to use it to bring on an additional 100-200 experts to the platform. Mine’d currently has 20 wellness experts, including marriage and family therapist Vienna Pharaon, marriage, family and relationship expert Dr. Alexandra Solomon and sex therapist Shadeen Francis. The company also plans to launch creator tools that will allow its experts to offer more support to their community. Mine’d also aims to focus on email marketing and content production. Lastly, the company plans to use the funding to launch exclusive Mine’d courses within the app.
When asked what sets Mine’d apart from other wellness apps, Groves said other platforms are focused on how to scale one-on-one therapy, coaching and group therapy. Although Mine’d believe in those methods, Groves believes that by the time someone goes to therapy, it’s very late in their personal growth journey.
“We wanted to meet people, with curated and incredible content, at step one, the frictionless space where people are beginning to search for answers to their problems, challenges and making sense of their feelings,” Groves stated. “We wanted to create a space where they could be themselves, be curious, be vulnerable, and decide on the depth of intimacy that they are comfortable with given their familiarity with personal growth, therapy and consuming content that is sometimes challenging and emotional.”
Regarding the future, the company plans to continue developing Mine’d in a way that still feels personal and vulnerable. Groves outlined that Mine’d will help its experts reach the people who need support while allowing them the ability to get paid for their expertise. In addition, Albert said the company also plans to expand its offerings.
“We are looking to become the unifier in the emotional wellness space,” Albert said. “We want to give our community the chance to not only get help through our many content offerings, but ultimately be able to book 1:1 and small group coaching. We are planning to launch a Mine’d Coaching Certification, allowing people to step into their calling and become coaches themselves.”
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