Mental health startup Foremind closes $1.5m round from Giant Leap, Skalata
A founder’s personal mental health struggle has evolved into a fast-growing platform aiming to address Australia’s workplace wellbeing challenges head-on.
When Joel Anderson was 25, he found himself at rock bottom, struggling with his mental health. He carried the number for his workplace crisis line in his pocket for a year before he was able to use it. Today, his mental health startup Foremind has secured $1.5 million in funding to help ensure others can access support before reaching breaking point.
“You’re meant to call when you’re having a crisis, but I couldn’t reach out for so long because I was afraid of admitting out loud that I needed help,” Anderson told Capital Brief. “Everyone else around me seemed so fine. I kept thinking, ‘Why am I the only person struggling?’”
This invisible barrier to seeking help — what Anderson calls “the glass wall” — became the foundation for Foremind, which he says has seen rapid growth over the past two years. That growth has been fuelled in part by Australia’s evolving psychosocial hazard legislation, which requires employers to manage mental health risks with the same rigour as physical hazards in the workplace.
The funding round, led by Giant Leap, with participation from Skalata Ventures and the Snow Foundation, comes at a pivotal moment for workplace mental health in Australia. Public mental health waitlists now stretch up to nine months, and research shows Australians wait an average of 12 years before seeking mental health support. Anderson’s ambition for Foremind is clear: “We want that measured in days, not years.”
