The Social Health Startups to Keep an Eye on in 2023
New tech solutions to making friends, getting social connection and combatting loneliness
How’s your social health?
How connected do you feel to others? Do you have meaningful relationships in your life? Do you feel part of a community? Are your social interactions energizing?
These are just some dimensions of the field of social health, an offset of mental health that is on the rise in conversations, thanks to relevant news like:
- U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declaring a “loneliness epidemic”
- Studies showing that “weak ties” lead to better wellbeing
- Scrolling on social media leads to worse mental health
Organizations like Kasley Killam’s Social Health Labs and the Foundation for Social Connection are leading the discussion around this topic, along with thinkers like Dr. Murthy, Priya Parker, Kat Vellos, Dr. Marisa G. Franco, Dr. Miriam Kirmayer, and Casper ter Kuile, among others.
There’s been huge strides in the field of mental health these past few years, specifically with reduced stigma of talking about it, and a plethora of innovative startups tackling various strands of the problem.
It feels like we’re on the precipice of a similar time, but with social health, and Groove is happy to be in good company with other startups creating different solutions for different aspects of the problem.
Groove’s approach to social health
For us, we’re most interested in providing a solution to social connection for people who usually work by themselves at home.
We have a lot of software helping us operationally in our remote lives (and an emerging ecosystem for solo workers), but we’re missing a large piece of human infrastructure — whether you work for yourself, a small company, or a large enterprise.
We believe that meaningful connection, whether from weak ties or close friends, creates belonging, providing support to help people thrive day in and day out.
Social health is a relatively new category that we’re excited to contribute to. It’s our ability to interact and form meaningful relationships with others. Social health is core to our emotional wellbeing and feeling supported in our everyday lives.
Social health comes from the social rituals that are integrated into your day.
Think back to the coffee station, chit-chat in the elevator, the time before or after meetings, the water cooler, grabbing lunch with coworkers and friends, going to your yoga class… Finding time that is part social and part purposeful is critically important.
Groove is a mobile app providing on demand motivation, accountability, and social connection via 50 minute focus sessions.
Here’s how it works in 60 seconds:
Hop into a Groove and 2–4 people from around the world will join you for a 50 minute focus session. You’ll cross off to-dos as you build healthy new habits.
More on Groove’s approach to social health:
A rising tide lifts all boats
This might be the first time you’ve heard the phrase “social health.” (Then again, if you’re reading a post about it, maybe not 😉)
It can often feel like there’s still a stigma around admitting that you could use more friends or social connection.
There are many societal reasons around the increase in loneliness that other people can explain better than us. We believe that alongside structural change, we need innovative solutions that address different parts of the problem, so we’re championing the overall field of social health.
Groove can’t solve loneliness, and we’re not trying to take that on all by ourselves. So, here are other new social health solutions we’ve got our eyes on 👀
13 social health startups to try in 2023
We’re just one solution to one aspect of social health, so we love seeing other startups in the space who care as deeply as we do about solving these problems in innovative ways.
Here are a few you should know about (in ABC order):
The Breakfast
What it is: “The Breakfast introduces you to someone new & awesome to meet and talk with. Over breakfast.”
What it’s for: Making friends or networking
The Commons
What it is: “A community and third space dedicated to open-ended curiosity, co-created play, & collective flourishing in the heart of San Francisco.”
What it’s for: A local community center for in person gatherings
The Company Club
What it is: “The Company Club is a community of people who share experiences with each other out in the real world.”
What it’s for: Making friends
FriendApp
What it is: “FriendApp helps you organize the people important to you, so you can make more plans in real life.”
What it’s for: Keeping up with friends and existing social relationships
Hey You
What it is: “The world’s smallest social network. There are no likes, statuses, or followers on Hey You. It just helps you and one friend call each other once a week, for one month, and serves up a series of research-backed prompts designed to better your relationships along the way.”
What it’s for: Keeping up with friends and existing social relationships
KINND
What it is: “We are Noom for Human Connection, aimed at extinguishing the epidemic of loneliness. We help people build relationship skills and then practice those skills through 1-on-1 friend matching in-app.”
What it’s for: Making friends
Loop
What it is: “The app for social anxiety, transforming evidence-based treatments into accessible everyday lifestyle habits.”
What it’s for: Learning skills to improve your social fitness
The Nearness
What it is: Weekly small group sessions and “a community platform to nurture your spiritual life,” started by Casper ter Kuile, author of The Power of Ritual.
What it’s for: Secular spiritual exploration
Pace
What it is: “Pace brings together small groups of 7 people to open up, get below the surface, and share things they haven’t told their best friends.”
What it’s for: Social support
Squad
What it is: “Squad is a group accountability partner app & atomic habit tracker — for achieving daily goals with others”
What it’s for: Social support and motivation for ongoing goals and challenges
Sunny
What it is: Sunny is a digital guide that suggests simple, science-based actions to help you build healthier real-world social connections. The Sunny app prompts you with simple ideas to bring more meaningful social outreach to your days.
What it’s for: Learning skills to improve your social fitness
We3
What it is: “We3 uses social science and Artificial Intelligence to match you with the most compatible people around you. We3 privately matches you into groups of 3 — with people you just click with.”
What it’s for: Making friends
Wisdo Health
What it is: Wisdo is a social health and clinical referral platform that tracks improvements in health through community-driven social support, professionally moderated group sessions, and when appropriate, clinical referrals based on predictive analytics.
What it’s for: Social support and measuring social health
Are there any others we’re missing that we should check out? Let us know!
Looking for more Groovy reads? Check these out:
- Authentic Human Connection Powers Our Best Work (And Lives)
- You Don’t Need Coworking, You Need Camaraderie
- Or, if you’re ready to get sh*t done the fun way cruise on over to groove.ooo
