Mental health startup StartTalking announces partnership with QuikTrip
October 14, 2016 | Meghan LeVota
Editor’s note: In response to readers’ desire for quick-hitting stories, Startland News is launching a new segment, “News Flash,” to enable more coverage. Let us know what you think!
Lenexa-based StartTalking has announced a pilot partnership with QuikTrip that will make its service available to all 3,000 QuikTrip employees in the Kansas City area.
The mental health startup will provide its telehealth and online therapy services via QuikTrip’s employee assistance program, confirming the firm’s value, said founder Mark Nolte.
“We’re still very much in startup mode, but this validated our business model and proved that it can be done,” Nolte said. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to learn a lot in the pilot about what works, what doesn’t and what protocols to take in the future.”
Launched in 2014, StartTalking was inspired by Nolte’s own struggle with depression. The software provides immediate online counseling and therapeutic sessions through online messaging and encrypted video. His software is designed to catch depression and anxiety in its early stages, before things get critical.
A Liberty-based behavioral therapist from Clinical Counseling Associates Inc. will be providing the online therapy to QuikTrip employees. The therapist and Quiktrip employees will be able to access the video platform on their smartphone or laptop with StartTalking’s technology. Nolte said that QuikTrip was interested in his firm services to help cut down on travel and absentee costs.
A medical device salesman of more than 20 years, Nolte said the market for telehealth psychotherapy is around $2 trillion, and that Americans spend about $24 billion on psychotherapy.
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Moblico snags six-figure investment, announces hiring plans
Kansas City-based Moblico, a tech firm that creates software for mobile marketers, recently announced a $900,000 investment raise to hire additional staff. The investment came from Missouri Technology Corp. and a local angel investor — both of which are second time investors in the company. “We raised these funds to help the company grow,” Moblico…
Windhaven Farms, Chemistry take 1 Million Cups stage
The seemingly disparate industries of agriculture and marketing were on display this week at 1 Million Cups with startups Windhaven Farms and Chemistry. Windhaven Farms founder Kristen Wolf first presented her local meat distribution company, which delivers an assortment of locally-raised, organically-grown meat products, including beef, pork, chicken and rabbit. “The product is really, really…
KC among the best cities to find a job
The City of Fountains is apparently overflowing with job opportunities. Career data Glassdoor recently named Kansas City, Mo. as the No. 2 city to find employment. Kansas City currently has nearly 28,800 employment opportunities, a median base salary $46,000 and median home value of $138,500. Glassdoor determined the final rankings by looking at hiring opportunity…
Recap: Bill would gut Kansas Bioscience Authority
A bill in the Kansas legislature if passed would dissolve the Kansas Bioscience Authority, which has recently served as a venture capital organization investing in early-stage bioscience firms. The measure — SB 305 — would shut down the organization and transfer its funds and obligations to the Kansas Department of Commence. Proponents of the KBA say…