Mental health: insurer AXA cooperates with startup HelloBetter

One in three Germans is affected by a mental illness at least once in the course of their lives. Nevertheless, very few people immediately receive the help they actually need. It often takes months for patients to get a place in therapy. HelloBetter offers a low-threshold solution for this: scientifically tested psychological online training with personal support. The insurance company AXA Switzerland has recognized the potential of the startup and, after a successful pilot project, now wants to cooperate with HelloBetter in the long term. In this interview, Open Innovation Manager Bettina Naef and Jacopo Dandrea from AXA tell us about their experiences in the collaboration.

Our interview partners Jacopo Dandrea and Bettina Naef from AXA Switzerland

Bettina and Jacopo, you are both Open Innovation Managers at AXA Switzerland. What exactly can we imagine by that?

Bettina: Our focus is not on AXA’s core business, insurance, but on new services. When we have identified a particular customer need, we look for startups that have already been able to establish themselves on the market with a good solution for it.

Jacopo: We are active in the Life & Health, Mobility and SME ecosystems.

How do you get in touch with the startups?

Bettina: We approach startups in a very targeted manner. We do a screening on the respective topic and then we might have a longlist of about 80 startups that we look at. Then there is a callup with 10 to 15 startups. The list gets smaller further if we then do another workshop with 4 or 5 startups. That’s how we find a good partner at the end.

How did the cooperation with HelloBetter come about?

Bettina: We got to know HelloBetter as part of the Kickstart program here in Switzerland. This brings startups, companies and institutions together to jointly develop pilot projects. During the program, we have not yet had a cooperation, but we already had a very good impression from the discussions with HelloBetter. Our current collaboration shows that such encounters can also have a longer-term impact.

What customer need was the basis of your cooperation?

Bettina: We have conducted numerous surveys in the field of mental health, both with sufferers and with psychotherapists, and reviewed various studies. As a result, we know how many people feel stressed at work, for example, or have mental health problems and have to wait far too long for therapy. As a result, quite a few do not even get a diagnosis in the medium term. The topic of mental health is still stigmatized. Many people do not talk about their complaints or talk down their problems. Often there is no low-threshold help, or sometimes it is simply not visible to those affected.

Jacopo: The problem affects an incredible number of people. Here in Switzerland, it’s about 20 to 30 percent of the population. Many have only mild symptoms, but these can worsen if they don’t receive help.

How did you initiate the cooperation with HelloBetter?

Bettina: As I said, we had been in contact for some time, so it was very easy. We discussed what a joint project could look like and quickly realized that it was interesting for both sides. A short pilot contract was created, the customer journey was designed and a simple landing page was set up.

What happened next?

Bettina: In the pilot, we launched an email campaign and offered our customers discount codes for HelloBetter. In the meantime, we have achieved the pilot goals and are now working on a longer-term offer and cooperation model.

Jacopo: Such pilot projects are very important for us before we actually include products and services in our longer-term offering. They help us to assess, for example, whether the offering is of benefit to our customers or whether there is a willingness to pay.

How do both sides benefit from your cooperation?

Bettina: We raise awareness among our customers about mental health and offer them easy access to preventive online training. In this way, we may save some from becoming ill. For HelloBetter, it is an opportunity to place their offering in Switzerland and expand their business here.

What criteria do you use to select startups to collaborate with?

Bettina: The most important thing is a problem-solution fit – a solution for the customer problem that we have identified. For us, it’s also important that the startup has already established itself in the market and has a certain customer base. We don’t negotiate with startups that are still at a very early stage. In addition, the cultural fit is also crucial – you have to be able to imagine working together. Another requirement would be the language: in our case, the startup must be able to address our German-, French- and Italian-speaking customers in the longer term.

Finally, do you have any advice for other companies that want to cooperate with startups?

Bettina: We have a very simple contract for cooperation projects with startups. I would recommend any company to draft such a shortened contract for pilot projects. Two or three pages are enough. In addition, I can only advise starting with a pilot project.

Jacopo: It is important to clarify the goals and expectations on both sides. You should also communicate transparently from the start about what is going well or not so well. Then you can react quickly and flexibly if changes are necessary.

Contact

Website: www.axa.ch

LinkedIn: Jacopo Dandrea, Bettina Naef