If one was to look at the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic, among them would have to be the increased attention to the importance of mental health. Especially in the MENA region, where mental health still faces a lot of scepticism as this form of healthcare has yet to establish itself in the regional zeitgeist, there is an indisputable need for more mental health solutions.
Luckily, advancements in technology and overall affordability and accessibility are helping startups create scalable, cost-effective solutions to address this segment of the healthcare sector.
Among these companies is MindTales, an Abu Dhabi-based startup operating out of Hub71, the emirate’s tech ecosystem. MindTales offers both self-help solutions and expert consultations, customised to suit the user’s personal journey and challenges.
Among the services offered by MindTales are science-backed psychology exercises, personalised wellness advice, journaling, and much more, powered by a comprehensive tech stack.
MindTales closed a Seed funding round of $1.23 million in Q1 of 2022, secured from investors from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Israel, and is currently fundraising again.
The Abu Dhabi SME Hub spoke with Viktorija Aksionova, Co-Founder and CEO of MindTales, to learn more about her company’s business model, her entrepreneurial journey, and more.
Viktorija Aksionova, Co-Founder and CEO of MindTales
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what led you to create MindTales?
Early on in my career, I moved to the UAE to join one of the sovereign wealth funds and accumulated more than 10 years of experience in the asset management industry. I was keen to use my experience to create change within health tech, so I ventured into the entrepreneurship space. As a two-time startup founder, I’m currently leading MindTales, which aims to disrupt the UAE’s mental healthcare system by creating the region’s first platform for corporate wellness.
MindTales was born out of a personal pain point and experience. A few years ago I felt quite overwhelmed by the high workload and stress and I was looking for support. Despite there being a lot of information, it was difficult for me to identify and find the best solution to my problem - and I just couldn’t find an easily accessible and affordable service. This was the moment when the idea for starting MindTales and creating a full-stack solution for emotional and mental well-being was born. And since then, our goal has been to make mental health more accessible and inclusive.
How would you describe the MindTales business model, and what are the core services you are offering today?
The MindTales business model is focused on B2B, where we help employers and corporates to improve the well-being of their employees, as well as B2C, with individual customers using our app for self-help tools and counselling. The application offers different freemium/premium subscription plans tailored to the needs of the individual customer.
During the onboarding process, the application designs a journey tailored and customised to the needs of the individual user, which consists of different mindfulness, breathing and meditation exercises. These exercises can be done anytime, whenever there is a need. If the user wants to discuss or explore any issues or concerns in more depth, they can opt for a session with one of our selected and licensed counsellors and life coaches.
Our coaches and counsellors undergo a careful selection process, which consists of different phases. After the initial job posting, we verify the qualifications and experience of the counsellors who pass this stage and then conduct initial interviews. Shortlisted candidates then get interviewed by the team for more feedback and to check their compatibility in terms of counselling approach and skills, culture and language.
From your experience, how would you describe the general public's acceptance of seeking mental health today compared to before the pandemic?
The Covid-19 pandemic and the social restrictions and the impact they had on everyone’s mental health have significantly increased the awareness of mental health and facilitated the discourse. In a way, it has created a momentum of speaking more openly about mental health. It is important to benefit from this momentum by not only speaking more about mental health but also by normalising therapy and self-help tools and developing counselling options further.
What was your first year as an entrepreneur like, and what was the company's focus in those first 12 months?
In the early days of building MindTales, it was very important to receive feedback on the idea and its feasibility and to get help in assessing the market situation. We have spent four months on research, talking to key stakeholders, and understanding the ecosystem and our customers. In the end, you are trying to solve a problem and therefore it is very important to understand what it is that customers need. After this, we created a prototype and built our first MVP - lots of ups and downs and learnings throughout. Within 12 months, we managed to finish our first product and released it on the App Store, secured 10K user downloads, raised an angel round, and hired 7 people.
How did setting up in Hub71 support your business?
Hub71 is a great ecosystem and environment for a startup to thrive. The support Hub71 gives allows for growth by providing founders with access to the UAE market, key stakeholders, advisors, professionals from the industry, academia, as well as Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Sharing the space with other startups enables us to share ideas, and work collaboratively and creatively. The shared sense of community generates productivity and helps us all to grow together.
Joining the Hub71 Incentive Program made it possible for us to turn a concept into an actual product within a short period of time: we now have more than 120,000 downloads. We are currently growing at an incredible rate of 20% on weekly downloads, and have set up a great team of 9 people, including local experts and professionals from outside the region. In addition to that, we closed our seed round of $1.2m earlier this year. Having such a strong base here in Abu Dhabi has also helped us enter other markets, and we have recently developed our application in Ukrainian and Russian.
There's growing competition within the regional healthtech sector as we are seeing more companies address the mental health needs of the populace. How is MindTales' approach different?
The MindTales platform is different, as it is a complete full-stack application, that offers the user many options to tackle different issues and concerns at hand that they are facing. First of all, the user does a self-assessment, which helps design the personalised track/journey that is the most beneficial for them, which suggests different mindfulness exercises and also provides educational information. Whenever the user faces a dead end and would like to explore certain issues with a coach or counsellor, the app will help find the best match from a selection of certified and experienced counsellors.
What's next for MindTales?
Since it is our mission and goal to make mental health as inclusive as possible and accessible to as many people as possible, we are constantly trying to optimize our solution. We are always on the lookout for new educational materials, tools and counsellors that can be added to the application. We have also developed the solution in different languages, and currently, MindTales is available in English, Arabic, Ukrainian and Russian. We are aiming to add as many languages and counsellors with different qualifications and specialisations as possible to be as inclusive as we can!
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