Mentalium study: why 10 European mental-health startups collapsed
An analysis by Mentalium covering 542 digital mental-health companies found consumer-paid services shut down at more than double the rate of institution-funded ones. The report details ten specific failures across Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania.
Europe's mental-health tech sector has raised almost €39 million across 11 funding rounds this year alone, yet not every company manages to survive. A Mentalium analysis of 542 digital mental-health organisations tracked between 2000 and 2026 found that businesses relying on individual consumers to pay shut down or went bankrupt 53% of the time, compared with just 21% for those funded by institutions such as employers, clinics or insurers. A similar pattern emerged when comparing business models: consumer-facing (B2C) companies failed 53% of the time versus 24% for B2B companies, while freemium models recorded a 62% failure rate.
Notable failures
Among the cases highlighted is Germany's Betterspace, an employer wellbeing platform that could not compete with better-capitalised rivals and closed around 2021, and the UK's Fika, liquidated in July 2024 after struggling to secure enough enterprise contracts. Germany's Fosanis, developer of the cancer-patient support tool Mika, lost its statutory health-insurance reimbursement status due to a procedural issue and filed for insolvency in December 2024 despite having raised around €12 million.
Other cases point to product-market misfit: UK chatbot Leo failed to build a sustainable subscription model targeting young men, while Dutch VR app Psylaris was limited by the small pool of users who owned VR headsets. Bristol-based MoodPanda attracted more than 200,000 users but, lacking outside funding or a revenue model, became inactive around 2018.
The Baltic region features Estonia's TheraSync, whose 2024 records reportedly showed just €2,444 on the balance sheet, no staff and no turnover, and Lithuania's therapist marketplace Tokitus, which raised only €125,000 and closed in 2024 after failing to reach sufficient scale. The list also includes Poland's Therapify and Northern Ireland's Sentireal, both of which struggled with insufficient capital against better-funded competitors.
