Jump to content

Meru Health

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Meru Health, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryDigital health
Founded2016
FounderKristian Ranta, Albert Nazander, Riku Lindholm
Headquarters
San Mateo, California
,
United States
Area served
United States
Key people
Kristian Ranta (CEO)
ProductsMeru Health Program (12-week digital intervention)
Websitewww.meruhealth.com

Meru Health is an American company that delivers smartphone-based programmes for depression, anxiety and related conditions. It was founded in Helsinki in 2016 and relocated its headquarters to California after taking part in Y Combinator's Summer 2018 cohort.[1]

History

[edit]

Entrepreneurs Kristian Ranta, Albert Nazander and Riku Lindholm launched Meru Health after the suicide of Kristian's brother, aiming to widen access to evidence-based mental-health care.[2]

Funding

[edit]
Date Round Amount Lead investors Source
2018 Seed US$4.2 million Bonit Capital; VentureFriends [3]
May 2020 Series A US$8.1 million Foundry Group; Slack Fund [4]
Sep 2021 Series B US$38 million (equity and debt) Industry Ventures; Bold Capital [2]

Tracxn estimates total disclosed funding at about US$55 million.[5]

Products

[edit]
  • Meru Health Program – a 12-week intervention that combines cognitive-behavioural therapy, mindfulness practice, nutritional guidance and heart-rate-variability biofeedback, supported by licensed therapists via asynchronous chat.
  • A shorter coaching programme for stress and burnout.

Clinical outcomes

[edit]
  • A 12-week randomised trial (n = 100) reported a mean 6.4-point drop in PHQ-9 scores and a 5.1-point drop in GAD-7 relative to a wait-list control.[6]
  • A 2019 follow-up study (n = 193) found that mean PHQ-9 reductions of 6.67 points were maintained at 12 months.[7]
  • The Peterson Health Technology Institute's 2025 assessment classified the programme as clinically meaningful, citing improvements in both PHQ-9 and GAD-7.[8]

Peer-reviewed studies

[edit]
Year Study design Sample size Primary outcome Result / effect size
2018 Open-label feasibility 117 PHQ-9 −5.4 points at week 8[9]
2019 Pre-post, 12-month follow-up 193 PHQ-9 −6.67 points sustained[7]
2022 Cluster RCT (protocol) 300* PHQ-9 Trial in progress[10]
2024 Wait-list RCT 100 PHQ-9 Cohen d = 0.80 at 12 weeks[6]
  • planned enrolment

Partnerships and pilots

[edit]
  • Stanford University – the 12-week programme is offered at no cost to benefits-eligible employees through university health plans.[11]
  • Curebase – collaboration to run a 300-participant clinical trial embedded in primary-care clinics.[12]
  • MINES & Associates – partnership announced in 2019 to make the programme available to more than 10,000 managed-behavioural-health members.[13]

Media coverage

[edit]

National outlets, including TechCrunch, Forbes, Fierce Healthcare and MobiHealthNews, have reported on the company's funding rounds, clinical results and commercial agreements.[2][4][14]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Meru Health". Y Combinator. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Azevedo, Mary Ann (23 September 2021). "Meru Health secures $38 million in equity and debt for online mental-health platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  3. ^ "Meru Health raises $4.2 million seed round". TechCrunch. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  4. ^ a b Lovett, Laura (13 May 2020). "Digital mental-health company Meru snags $8.1 million in Series A funds". MobiHealthNews. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  5. ^ "Meru Health — company profile". Tracxn. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  6. ^ a b Forman-Hoffman, Valerie L. (2024). "Therapist-supported digital mental-health intervention for depressive symptoms: a randomised clinical trial". Journal of Affective Disorders. 349: 494–501. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.057. PMID 38211747.
  7. ^ a b Economides, Marcos (2019). "Long-term outcomes of a therapist-supported smartphone intervention for depression and anxiety". JMIR mHealth and uHealth. 7 (8): e14284. doi:10.2196/14284. PMC 6733157. PMID 31452521.
  8. ^ "Virtual solutions for depression and anxiety". Peterson Health Technology Institute. 20 May 2025. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  9. ^ Ranta, Kristian (2018). "Feasibility of a therapist-supported mobile intervention for depression and anxiety". PLOS ONE. 13 (12): e0208224. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0208224. PMC 6277107. PMID 30507969.
  10. ^ "Curebase partners with Meru Health for three-year mental-health trial". Fierce Biotech. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  11. ^ "Meru Health". Stanford University. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  12. ^ "Curebase & Meru Health unite for app-based mental-health trial". Pharmaphorum. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  13. ^ "Meru Health and MINES & Associates announce collaboration for improved mental-health care access" (Press release). BioSpace. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  14. ^ Beavins, Emma (20 May 2025). "Virtual depression and anxiety programmes prove effective but costs vary, PHTI finds". Fierce Healthcare. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
[edit]


Stub icon

This California-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Stub icon

This corporation or company article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meru_Health&oldid=1294021971"