SoulUp is a startup constructing “LinkedIn for psychological well being”. Right here’s how that works
- Based in February 2022,
SoulUp is a Bengaluru-based early-stage startup sellingpsychological well being wellness. - It was based by two IIT alumnae, Punita Mittal and Mahak Maheshwari.
- SoulUp featured on Season 2 of
Shark Tank India, profitable an funding of ₹50 lakh from sharkNamita Thapar , govt director, Emcure Prescription drugs.
Despite the fact that psychological well being points have at all times plagued people, it’s solely lately that the dialog round psychological well being wellbeing is being normalised. Bengaluru-based early-stage startup SoulUp goals to additional this trigger by constructing a “LinkedIn-like community for psychological well being”.
SoulUp featured on season 2 of the truth present Shark Tank India and obtained an funding of ₹50 lakh from Namita Thapar, govt director, Emcure Prescription drugs, in change for a 5% stake within the firm. Founders Punita Mittal and Mahak Maheshwari spoke to Enterprise Insider India in regards to the story behind the startup, the ‘shark tank’ impact, and being a “class creator”.
“SoulUp is taking a singular strategy to psychological well being – nobody has actually tried to resolve this house utilizing peer conversations because the core. So being a class creator and being one within the psychological well being house – for us has meant working laborious to earn consumer belief,” shares Mittal.
Constructing one thing significant in health-tech
Co-founders Mittal and Maheshwari have identified one another for practically two years now however first met by mutual pals. Each are IIT alumnae with a background in well being tech and share a “deep dedication to constructing one thing significant in a associated house”.
Mittal is an alumna of IIT Delhi and ISB Hyderabad, and has over 13 years of expertise within the healthcare house – she led the health app HealthifyMe, constructing the world’s first digital health coach throughout her tenure there.
Maheshwari, then again, is an alumna of IIT Bombay. She began her profession with the administration consulting firm Bain & Co and is a third-time founder, having based D2C snacks startup WeDesi and health-tech startup Proactive For Her earlier than SoulUp.
The concept of SoulUp truly got here to Mittal when she was volunteering at Auroville and witnessed open conversations with out judgement throughout the neighborhood. SoulUp goals to emulate this expertise – connecting individuals who have been by related emotionally -challenging experiences.
The enterprise mannequin
Based in February 2022, SoulUp affords ‘Peer Conversations’ throughout a spread of areas – relationships, well being/medical points, parenting, profession, self-growth and recognized psychological sickness. All conversations on SoulUp occur by way of video calls.
SoulUp has the next choices:
1-on-1 Join: Customers uncover and join by way of one-on-one video conversations with SoulUp verified ‘Friends’ who’ve been in the identical boat as them. Costs are ₹199-399 for a forty five minute-long dialog.
As per Maheshwari, all potential friends undergo a one-on-one verification course of on video calls. If potential friends declare to have a recognized medical or psychological well being situation, they must submit proof of prognosis, following which they bear their first degree of necessary coaching carried out on-line in collaboration with the Hank Nunn Institute in Bengaluru.
Group Conversations: Customers can choose from a spread of topic-wise teams. Every group is led by an knowledgeable with a small group of 6-7 customers and runs for a set variety of periods. Group periods begin from ₹2,500 for a 4-session group. 50% of this price goes to the facilitator.
StirUps: SoulUp lately began long-running teams referred to as StirUps. StirUps are alongside the traces of group remedy. They don’t have a selected subject and run for six months to a 12 months. The membership value is ₹1,000/month
Considered one of SoulUp’s core differentiators is its peer-led community. Nonetheless, working a peer-led community comes with its personal set of challenges — the chance of friends inadvertently influencing one other particular person’s behaviour, privateness issues, and so on.
SoulUp doesn’t oversee conversations because of privateness points however has steps in place to make sure that peer-led conversations are literally helpful and never triggering.
“Callers are made conscious that this isn’t an area for knowledgeable recommendation however an area to derive true empathy and to share frequent, lived experiences. The danger of being inadvertently influenced is low since expectation-setting is finished at numerous ranges and friends are educated accordingly. Additionally, suggestions is taken from each events (caller and peer) after every dialog. If we get suggestions that the caller wants higher-level assist, we recommend therapist-led SoulUp teams and one-on-one remedy periods with the therapists in our community,” revealed Mittal.
Maheshwari added that friends have been educated in lively listening, empathy and different abilities as a part of their necessary peer coaching. “As a part of this, they discover ways to deal with conditions which can be awkward or triggering for them. Friends observe a set protocol in circumstances the place they establish that the caller might have skilled intervention and isn’t already taking it,” she stated.
The Shark Tank Impact
SoulUp has achieved over 1,200 conversations and has a community of over 300 friends. It has a collective attain of over 8,000 folks throughout social media (Instagram web page, LinkedIn web page). SoulUp’s consumer base is unfold throughout Tier-1, 2 and three cities and about 10% of its customers are from abroad.
SoulUp noticed a 10x improve in site visitors and a proportional improve in income within the weeks instantly following their look on Shark Tank India, shared Mittal.
Whereas the crew didn’t face any challenges whereas making use of for the present, the a number of steps within the choice course of did put the 2 co-founders out of their consolation zone.
“The Shark Tank choice course of has a number of steps – the preliminary steps are less complicated however the subsequent ones the place we have to make movies or give trial pitches in entrance of a digicam did put us out of our consolation zone – however all for good motive,” revealed Mittal.
When the duo pitched on the present, all the panel was fascinated by investing within the startup however after a number of rounds of discussions, the founders finalised the take care of shark Namita Thapar.