ESG in the portfolio: Verdane and Auntie Solutions
Auntie Solutions has a goal of democratising psychological support. The Finnish start-up focuses on tackling mental issues before they get too serious, and the model is built around employers paying for it. In December 2021, Verdane’s new impact fund Idun made the Finnish company one of its first investments.
In 2022, Finland was named the happiest country in the world by the UN’s World Happiness Report for the fifth year in a row. It might not be a coincidence that it was here that Auntie Solutions, a service focusing on improving the mental well-being of employees, was founded in 2015.
The idea is that if you can prevent a problem in your life from growing, be that stress or a relational issue, it is positive for both yourself and your employer.
“Our founder, Mervi Lamminen, got the inspiration from her previous job, where she became burned out and quit. She realised that it was a potential for a preventative service for people in the same situation. Finns claim to be the happiest people on earth, which might be why they have embraced a service focused on preventing mental issues, says Mika Kupila, Chief Product Officer at Auntie.
Kupila joined Auntie over a year ago while Verdane started their due diligence. The GP invested in the company in December 2021 through its new impact fund Idun (see facts), where Johanne Rydén is one of the directors. She is now on Auntie’s board.
“When we did our due diligence, it was apparent that the Nordics has come farther than other comparable regions on this matter. I believe it is because we appreciate the well-being of employees here and focus on having a good work-life balance. We hope that Auntie can become a catalyst in other European countries to improve employees’ well-being and job performance,” Rydén says.
Digital therapy sessions
Employers typically introduce Auntie as a well-being initiative for employees. The service consists of packages focused on everyday problems, like being stressed, having relationship issues, or being a new team leader. They match with psychologists based on their problems. If you decide to use a package, it is entirely anonymous.
“Employees do the sessions remotely from their own safe space”
“Our mental health professionals work remotely and meet clients online. This means the employees do not need to travel to the session; they can do it in their own safe space. We have heard many professionals say that people show their emotions more easily while using Auntie, and that results come faster than in their normal sessions,” says Kupila.
An Auntie package consists of five 45 minutes video sessions with a mental health professional. Employees can access exercises, reading material, webinars, and podcasts between the sessions. Employers receive a macro report from the Auntie team to show the effects of the service on the stress level and well-being within the company.
“When we spoke to some psychologists during our research, they said that Auntie is a great way to supplement their normal workload. The solution is very flexible, and they can potentially reach clients worldwide. Also, the customer satisfaction score is very high, proving that employees benefit from it. The focus now is to make the Auntie platform as good and scalable as possible,” says Rydén.
“We have had over 40.000 sessions performed on the platform. This has given us a lot of data and insight into what works and what does not,” adds Kupila.
Anxiety and depression increased by
25%
globally during the pandemic (WHO)
Pandemic reduced stigmas
With the covid-19 pandemic, stigmas around mental health issues changed. From March 2020 to March 2021, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25 %, according to a WHO study. The stress from social isolation was the primary explanation for the increase. In addition, the pandemic severely disrupted mental health services.
Further on, WHO signalled an “urgent need to make reliable and effective digitals tools available and easily accessible.” Auntie noticed the increased interest in their service.
“This was especially the case at the beginning of the pandemic. People were isolated and started to question how they were actually doing. Auntie was an opportunity for companies to assist their employees in tackling issues before they became unbearable,” says Kupila.
He believes that stigmas around mental health were already changing, and the pandemic accelerated the trend. Verdane’s Rydén agrees:
“This was something we questioned during our due diligence, ‘is the trend here to stay?’ We concluded that perceptions changed during the lockdown and that people got more open to talking about their mental well-being,” she says.
Up until now, the company has been Finnish-focused. With Verdane onboard as an investor, it is looking to internationalise. It has already established branches in Norway and Germany.
“Auntie’s social impact is powerful. It makes people live better, healthier lives”
Measuring social impact
A key for Verdane’s Idun portfolio is setting sustainability KPIs. That makes sense for companies seeking to tackle climate change, typically by cutting emissions. For Auntie, a social impact company, the measuring is less tangible.
“We have set KPIs on how many sessions get completed, which tells us how many benefits from the service. We also measure the stress level and total well-being in companies that have invested in Auntie,” says Rydén.
Verdane’s Elevate team (see facts) has done much qualitative research on how therapy services like Auntie can improve the well-being of organisations. The team has also examined how much it costs society when people get burned out.
“Auntie’s social impact is powerful. It makes people live better, healthier lives. During the pandemic, it became more evident that employers are responsible for the mental health of the organisation they lead. High well-being increases the effectiveness and productivity, which is good for the employee, the business, and society,” Rydén says.
“It is nice to see that we are improving lives and removing stigmas. We see this in the feedback, where users say that Auntie has changed how they talk about mental health. Hopefully, we can continue to improve the well-being of companies, large and small,” Kupila concludes.