#34: Investor conversations with Dr. Pooja Sikka (GP at the Innovations in Mental Health Fund)

Hi friends,

What do VCs think about mental health investments right now? In today’s post, we have a conversation with Dr. Pooja Sikka to find out.

Pooja is the Founding General Partner of the Innovations in Mental Health Fund and alongside Daniel Dickens, they’ve launched this new, early-stage VC fund to back mental health startups.

Pooja has had a long career operating and investing in healthcare. She has 20 years of experience as a clinician and GP with the NHS (including having worked in mental health services in her early career) and has an intercalated degree in Clinical Psychology and Neuropharmacology. She’s been in corporate venture and venture capital for nearly a decade and invests across the health tech space: digital health, medtech, diagnostics and tech bio.

So, safe to say, she has lots of fascinating opinions on the role technology can play in improving population mental health. 

I caught up with her for a chat about the launch of her new mental health VC fund and to get her insights on the landscape. 

We discuss;

• What you need to know about the Innovations in Mental Health fund 

• What sort of businesses the fund is most interested in

• Pooja’s perspectives on the mental health market and its challenges

• What she wishes founders knew when approaching investors

• The importance of a strong evidence base and how to build one as an early-stage business

• The trends in mental health innovation Pooja is most excited about

• What makes Pooja hopeful for the future of mental healthcare

Let’s get into it.

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