Why we invested in Ritual, an app for couples therapy

Research shows that 84% of couples are struggling with relationship problems around a wide variety of issues. But conventional self-help and counseling options aren’t very accessible and require a commitment from both individuals in a couple. Ultimately, the vast majority of couples in therapy are unable to resolve their differences, and half of them end up getting divorced.

Making couples help available and accessible is the goal of Ritual, a platform that can be personalized to meet the growing demand for counseling. In the United States alone, an estimated 15 million people are already in couples therapy. That’s a $3 billion market.

We invested in Ritual because it is consistent with our investment thesis for healthcare, which focuses on leveraging our device ecosystem to increase access to care. We joined GroundUp Ventures in a $2M pre-seed funding round. Ritual is unlocking an entire segment of digital care, making relationship help more accessible for millions of people wherever and whenever they need it. 

Ritual is developing an affordable solution for both couples looking for self-help advice and those who want counseling. Conventional self-help solutions are typically limited in scope, while couples therapy can be expensive — often requiring out-of-pocket payment. Counseling also requires a commitment of time and effort, as well as agreement on a therapist. Couples must overcome what can be perceived as a social stigma. Moreover, according to one study, couples therapy fails 93% of the time.

The Ritual solution approaches relationship counseling from a preventative perspective. Instead of waiting to treat problems, self-help therapies focus on wellness, the same way helping people stay in shape can prevent sickness. By making couples therapy fun and accessible, Ritual provides the self-help tools that individuals can use before their partners are ready to join the effort, as well as tools that are geared towards the couple working together to improve their relationship skills.

Ritual is developing tools to help couples deal with everything from parenting and communication issues to struggles related to intimacy and money. We think it has the potential to be the “go-to” platform for relationship advice and support.

The Ritual app also creates a network effect among users for sharing ideas and incentivizing engagement. Ritual’s initial focus is on growing the user base for its app, community building, education, providing on-demand support from clinical experts, and creating a database of treatment solutions. 

The potential for a digital based therapeutic platform to tackle relationship help is great and we believe that the time is now. 

Jonathan Machado is a Managing Director for Samsung Next. Samsung Next's investment strategy is limited to its own views and does not reflect the vision or strategy of any other Samsung business unit, including, but not limited to, Samsung Electronics.

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