Talkspace rings in mental health awareness month with a rosy Q1 earnings

The news: Talkspace reported an 11% year-over-year revenue boost to $30 million in its Q1 2022 earnings report.

What’s driving growth? Its B2B business (rather than its B2C business).

• B2B visits grew 68% to 90,600.
• Its B2C members grew quarter-over-quarter despite lower marketing spend. But B2C revenue was down 7% YoY.
• B2B customers (employers, payers) grew 54% to 76.5 million. Talkspace attributed growth to expanding relationships with existing clients and acquiring new ones.

Talkspace’s threat to competitors: It’s not gushing money toward its marketing efforts, yet it’s still reaping positive results in membership and revenues.

• For example, Teladoc-owned BetterHelp saw lower than expected Q1 results due to its high marketing spend, per Teladoc’s Q1’2022 report.
• In another case, mental health startup Cerebral’s ads ended up getting pulled from Instagram because of controversial messaging.

The bigger picture: There’s a perfect storm for telemental health startups operating in the US right now. The mental health crisis is only getting worse, and there’s a dwindling workforce of mental health specialists.

• 4 in 10 US adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression during the pandemic. That’s up from 1 in 10 who said the same in 2019.
• And while there's high demand for mental health services, there’s also a dwindling workforce of specialists.
• The current mental healthcare workforce only meets 28.1% of the need for mental healthcare in the US, per The Health Resources and Services Administration’s 2021 data.

Telemental health companies are gaining investor and employer attention, since they’re in a good spot to contend with the gaps in demand and care supply.

• Mental health startups raked in $1 billion in Q1, surpassing areas like diabetes ($500 million) and primary care ($400 million), per Rock Health.
• 93% of global employers say mental health has a direct impact on their bottom line, according to a 2021 Verizon Media report.

What’s next? Talkspace is in pole position for a major tie-up with a big healthcare player (like CVS, Phillips, or even budding telehealth stakeholders like GoodRx) looking to grow its telemental health footprint.

• Talkspace’s sizable customer base, wide range of digital mental health services and organic growth make it an appealing partner for a company like CVS that has said it plans to grow its mental health services.