BridgingSpace

Mental health challenges are a major problem in Africa. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 4 people in Africa (450 million people) will experience a mental health disorder in their lifetime. These conditions can have a devastating impact on people's lives, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill health and disability worldwide(WHO,2021). Across the African Continent, more than 116 million people were already estimated to be living with mental health conditions pre-pandemic. This has seen an estimated 25% global rise in depression and anxiety postCOVID-19 pandemic with over 80% of them being unable to access mental health services due to poor awareness, long wait times, and inflexible traditional therapy( World Mental Health Day, 2022). Research data shows that 25-30% of Nigerians (at least 70 million people) suffer from mental disorders (Wikipedia 2023). The majority of them do not seek professional help due to poor awareness, long wait times, and inflexible traditional therapy. 

BridgingSpace’s mission centers on leveraging AI-powered technology to offer therapy and mental health assessments for institutions and corporate specifics. This will be achieved through a combination of AI chatbots, natural language processors, machine-enabled recommendation engines, and consensual geopositioning data to provide personalized and accessible therapy to everyone (McKinsey, 2023).

BridgingSpace is in a class of innovative health-tech start-ups, focused on providing access to affordable and stigma-free mental health support or teletherapy from their devices. Establishing a platform that breaks the barriers of communication through AI-assisted technology, allows therapists and users to interface seamlessly. The pre-feasibility studies leveraged a robust Monte Carlo simulation( Quantic, 2023). It uses a combination of chatbots, natural language processing, machine learning, and recommendation engines to provide personalized and accessible therapy to individuals aged 18-55 years. Through the use of AI-assisted technology, we can maximize the usefulness of this unique approach, and be up-to-date on new global AI trends. 

The management team has a well-balanced professional background, including rich experience with startup fundamentals, finance management, scrum mastery, agile business analytics, product design development, psychology, life coaching, web and mobile app development, medical services, operations, sales, and marketing, UX/UI design, data analytics, design thinking, marketing expertise, and risk management.

A prototype has been built, initial users acquired and we're continuously iterating.

1. Access to Funding: Solve aims to connect Solver teams with partners who can provide financial support. BridgingSpace therapy.ai seeks assistance in raising funds to further develop and scale their solution.

2. Technical Support: Solve also aims to provide technical support to Solver teams. BridgingSpace therapy.ai would harness expertise or resources to overcome technical challenges faced in implementing our solution.

3. Legal and Cultural Barriers: Solve's network of partners and experts will help us navigate various legal, cultural, and regulatory challenges that we may encounter in deploying our solution in different contexts.

4. Market Access: Solve can potentially help us in gaining market access and creating partnerships. BridgingSpace therapy.ai will leverage Solve's network to form collaborations and expand the reach of their solution.

BridgingSpace’s mission centers on leveraging AI-powered technology to offer therapy and mental health assessments for institutions and corporate specifics. This will be achieved through a combination of AI chatbots, natural language processors, machine-enabled recommendation engines, and consensual geopositioning data to provide personalized and accessible therapy to everyone (McKinsey, 2023).

Our market research shows an increasing need for mental health innovations in peri-urban and remote areas that experienced emergencies, increasing need for mental health innovations in peri-urban and remote areas that experienced emergencies such as the COVID-19 crisis. During the pandemic, the global market for Mental Health Software which had an estimated US$1.9 Billion in 2020 saw a projected reach size of US$4.5 Billion by 2026 while experiencing an exponential compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.9% during this period (PR Newswire, 2023). 5 BridgingSpace will leverage AI and automation across Operations and Marketing to provide accessible mental healthcare, and intelligent systems enhance therapist and user experiences, optimize marketing performance, and unlock data insights. Cutting-edge technology strengthens its competitive position in the fast-growing teletherapy industry.

By using AI-driven technology for BridgingSpace, we will have the following impact goals for our solution and measure our progress including the following: 

 • Identify mental health risks through evaluation indicators as soon as possible in order to provide timely therapeutic management and support. 

 • Provide AI data-driven educational therapy and psychometric assessments for institutions and corporate outfits. 

 • Minimize stigma-related occurrences associated with the use of non-sensational languages and provide culturally sensitive resources for people who are struggling with mental health issues. 

 • Provide effective channels for reaching users through partnerships and collaboration with local support groups, for-profit, nonprofit organizations, and the government. 

 • Contribute meaningfully to achieving sustainable developmental goal 3 (Good Health & Wellbeing). Even though mental health is a critical and important component of health, it is often a neglected part of “Health” as a whole.  

KEY TECHNOLOGIES OF BRIDGINGSPACE THERAPY.AI 

 • AI-Powered Chatbots: The platform uses AI chatbots to provide clients with 24/7 real-time support and guidance while answering common questions about mental health, offering experiential coping mechanisms as well as connecting users with human therapists. 

 • Machine Learning: Machine learning algorithms will be used to analyze data sets from sessions conducted between users and therapists to identify patterns and trends. This data can be used to improve the effectiveness of therapy by providing therapists with insights into their client's progress and needs. 

 • Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP can be used to analyze chat therapy sessions Stigma-related identify key concepts. This data can be used to personalize therapy sessions and provide users with more curated content. 

 • Recommendation Engines: Recommendation engines can be used to recommend therapy resources to users based on their individual needs and preferences. This can help users find the right therapy for them and make the most of their treatment. 

• Consensual Geo-Positioning Data: This will specifically function as community peer-to-peer advice, real support group therapy, experience sharing, and access to location-based resources, such as clinical psychiatrists, mental health resources, and other mental health services.  

3 - full-time 

1 - part-time

2 years 

The management team has a well-balanced professional background consisting of both men and women, including rich experience with startup fundamentals, finance management, scrum mastery, agile business analytics, product design development, psychology, life coaching, web and mobile app development, medical services, operations, sales, and marketing, UX/UI design, data analytics, design thinking, marketing expertise, and risk management. 

Our business model for generating profit includes taking a 60% commission fee for every session while providing the following services: 

 • Virtual therapy which gives users quick access to get first line of mental health support via AI-powered chatbots and also talk to highly qualified therapists as a follow-up. The online support group (which will be handled by a licensed therapist) will incorporate consensual geopositioning data which can create a sense of community and support, give users an avenue to share their experience, learn from others- and provide information about local resources, such as therapists, support groups, and other mental health services. 

 • Standard assessments, mental health self-care, and newsletters will serve as value-added services in order to give users psychological evaluation indicators and daily tips to maintain good mental health. 

We also have varied subscription plans to cater to the needs of our target audience. These plans are dichotomized into B2C & B2B.

We are kick-starting the business as a medium-scale enterprise, with $250,000 and the funding is to be obtained from grants, equity, SAFE, or convertible notes. The capital requested will be spent as follows: and it repeats for 3 years at the same rate as the business grows. The marketing campaign is expected to take 4.08% of total costs including social media, SMS, and travel expenses. The marketing costs are not as high as envisaged as the content creator and social media experts are employed full-time. We plan to increase the labor by 100% in the second year to double sales. This will definitely reward investors for smart investment. The expected turnover is $1,025,504 in the first year and a net income of $737,940. By the end of Year 1, we will have reached and surpassed the break-even point. By the end of Year 3, we will have achieved a net margin of 71.94%.