Intentar ORO - Gratis
MENTAL HEALTH DEVICES: SCIENCE OR SNAKE OIL?
Mint Hyderabad
|October 20, 2025
Startups are taking mental health care beyond pills and therapy, through wearable devices
It's a quiet Tuesday evening inside the Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters cafe in Koramangala, Bengaluru. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee hangs in the air as I'm handed a device that looks fairly simple, black in colour and something between a headband and a headset, except it doesn’t cover the ears. There are no flashy screens, no blinking lights, no music to play. It isn’t built to count your steps or track your sleep. Instead, it goes a step ahead and is aimed at speaking to your brain.
“This might feel like a slight tingling,” says Jai Sharma, co-founder of Mave Health, a Bengaluru-based mental wellness startup, as he connects the headset to an app on his phone. He taps a button on his phone. A few seconds later, I feel it, a faint, rhythmic pulse against my forehead, subtle enough to ignore but impossible not to notice. It’s called neurostimulation, and it promises to do what few wearables have dared to attempt: calm the mind, ease stress, sharpen focus and, in some cases, assist in treating conditions such as depression, anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or addiction.
For years, India’s wellness tech has revolved around metrics and tracking: how fast you ran, how well you slept, how many calories you burned. But startups such as Mave Health, Marbles Health, InnerGize, UK-based Mindspire and Israel-based BrainQ are rewriting that script. They are building devices that don’t just measure mental wellbeing, but aim to improve it.
Their approach combines neuroscience, design and accessibility with the ambition to bring brain-tech out of laboratories and into everyday life. These startups are running pilots, seeking regulatory clearances and raising early rounds of capital to make neurostimulation both affordable and mainstream.
Esta historia es de la edición October 20, 2025 de Mint Hyderabad.
Suscríbete a Magzter GOLD para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9000 revistas y periódicos.
¿Ya eres suscriptor? Iniciar sesión
MÁS HISTORIAS DE Mint Hyderabad

Mint Hyderabad
'Oversupply is temporary, a growing India will absorb it'
India’s rapid urbanization, infra push will drive steady growth in steel use: JSW Steel CEO
3 mins
October 20, 2025

Mint Hyderabad
Rare friends: A Brazil-US deal may foil China's mineral game
Beijing's rare-earth squeeze may have created an unlikely alliance
3 mins
October 20, 2025

Mint Hyderabad
Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to immediate ceasefire after peace talks
Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to an immediate ceasefire during talks in Doha, both sides said on Sunday, after a week of fierce border clashes, the worst violence between the South Asian neighbours since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.
2 mins
October 20, 2025
Mint Hyderabad
The Tata Group squabble suggests a leadership vacuum
The Tata Group is no stranger to trouble.
4 mins
October 20, 2025

Mint Hyderabad
UP pulls the plug on hybrid sops, backs electrics
The battle between electric and hybrid vehicles in India has taken a fresh turn, with Uttar Pradesh—the largest state offering incentives for hybrid cars—deciding to withdraw all financial benefits for hybrids and back only pure electric vehicles (EVs).
1 min
October 20, 2025
Mint Hyderabad
Spring cleaning: Time to declutter your financial cobwebs this Diwali
Tidy up your portfolio, loans and insurance, ensuring coverage is comprehensive for a stronger financial base
5 mins
October 20, 2025

Mint Hyderabad
Uber drivers can earn during downtime by training its algorithm
Uber could package this labelled data—or the insights derived from it—into a commercial service for external clients such as enterprises, AV developers, logistics firms, or city agencies seeking ground-truth, frequently refreshed geospatial datasets.
2 mins
October 20, 2025
Mint Hyderabad
MENTAL HEALTH DEVICES: SCIENCE OR SNAKE OIL?
Startups are taking mental health care beyond pills and therapy, through wearable devices
9 mins
October 20, 2025

Mint Hyderabad
RBL Bank aims to power growth with Emirates capital
RBL Bank Ltd expects to secure regulatory approvals in the next five to six months for a $3 billion investment from Emirates NBD, a deal that would ultimately transition the Indian private bank into a listed subsidiary of the foreign bank. As part of the acquisition, RBL Bank will be merged with Emirates NBD's wholly-owned subsidiary currently operating in India.
1 min
October 20, 2025
Mint Hyderabad
Investment: Steer clear of paralysis by analysis
Equity or debt? Real estate or gold? Bitcoin or art? It might take more bravery than usual to invest across arisk-return spectrum that’ in flux, but household funds must not go idle
2 mins
October 20, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size