Millionaire Mondays - How Evolve Built an Inclusive Mental Health App from India for the World

Millionaire Mondays by Backstage with Millionaires

In this episode of Millionaire Mondays, featured in Startup Spotlights, an initiative by Google Play, we sit down with Anshul Kamath and Rohan Arora, founders of Evolve, a mental health platform, with a special focus on the LGBTQIA+ community.

Since its inception in 2017, Evolve has helped over 1 million people across the world, in the uplifting and well-being of their mental health.

00:00 Intro

03:51 Story of Anshul

08:47 Rohan's Story

12:36 How Both of them Met

17:32 Evolve's Early Days

21:28 Early Financing

23:20 First Fundraise

27:29 Recognition by The Google Play Store

29:36 Building for the World

31:39 Evolve's Business Model

35:24 Decision to build for LGBTQ+ community

45:55 Is Evolve B2B or B2C?

50:18 Future Roadmap

53:09 Looking Back

58:31 Founder's Future Ambitions

1:04:24 Outro

When Anshul and Rohan initially started Evolve in 2017, it was a mental health app for everyone. However, in 2021, the team pivoted towards an LGBTQ+ first app after seeing some early signs of traction.

The reason according to the founders is that “the LGBTQ+ community is one of the fastest growing user segments globally and research shows that members of the community are almost 4 times as likely to experience serious mental illness compared to the general population”.

Evolve’s core team comprises people from diverse gender identities and sexual orientations and this helps them understand first-hand the struggles and challenges of the LGBTQ+ community when it comes to mental health and wellness.

What makes Evolve different from the other mental health apps in the market is its focus on community building. So while other apps focus primarily on virtual content, Evolve has a thriving community where users can discuss and share their experiences to normalise stressors.

(Social Links

Google India’s IG:

https://www.instagram.com/googleindia/

Google India’s X:

https://x.com/GoogleIndia

https://x.com/googledevsin?lang=en

Google India’s YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopersIndia

https://www.youtube.com/GoogleIndia

Google’s Global Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopers

Google India’s LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/googleplaybiz/posts/?feedView=all

Evolve’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/evolveinc/

Evolve’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolveapp_/

Evolve’s X: https://x.com/evolveapp_

Anshul Kamath’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anshulkamath/

Rohan Arora’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohan-arora5/

Anshul Kamath’s X: https://x.com/anshulkamath

Anshul Kamath’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anshulkamath/

#mentalhealth #StartupSpotlights #GooglePlay

[This podcast is sponsored by Google Play.]