#6 Akili's heel; how a deal with The Dictator led to Akili's demise
plus... $8m for Aussie psychedelics, the US company tackling severe mental illness and all the latest news in mental health innovation
Hi friends,
Just 21 months ago, Akili Interactive went public with a valuation of over $500 million. But last week, Akili was sold to Virtual Therapeutics for just $34 million.
What the hell went wrong? What can we learn from another large-scale failure in digital therapeutics? And how did a certain billionaire nicknamed ‘The Dictator’ contribute to their demise?
That’s what we get into in this week’s Deep-Dive.
Hey, quick favour…
I’m writing a piece on the challenges faced by mental health startups and I’d love for you to contribute. Reckon you could take 5 mins complete this survey? Maybe even share it with a friend? Legend, thanks!
This week in The Hemingway Report;
Akili’s heel: how a deal with The Dictator led to Akili Interactive's demise and what we can learn from the failure
More funding for Aussie psychedelics: Psylo closes an $8m seed round
Tackling Severe Mental Illness (SMI): the company taking a comprehensive, hands-on approach to caring for people with SMI
And all the latest news in mental health innovation
Pumponomics all the way 🥲
Chamath certainly popularized, but SPACs actually date back to 2009 according to the table in:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special-purpose_acquisition_company
I hope Akili's work can find traction under new ownership.