Sure, the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming startups, Built In has launched The Future 5 across 11 major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five tech startups, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. Read our round-up of San Francisco’s rising startups from last quarter here.
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Last year, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a health advisory about the youth mental crisis that was further highlighted due to the pandemic. According to the advisory and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to one in five U.S. children ages 3 to 17 struggle with mental health issues. Even before the pandemic, suicidal behavior among teens was on the rise with 19 percent of high schoolers reporting they had seriously considered taking their own life.
While social media has often been criticized for exacerbating mental health issues in young people, one company is using the power of an online community to do just the opposite.
U4U is an online space for young women and girls to learn about mental health, find empowerment and support each other. U4U founder and CEO Ila Marchetta started the company in the U.K. after realizing one of the most impactful, positive moves she could make on the world was creating mental health resources for teen girls.
“Supporting teen girls is the greatest opportunity to [make a positive impact] as girls go on to be key influencers of their families and communities. Through supporting and boosting teen girls we can also increase the number of females in the highest levels of political and organizational leadership, and research shows that this will greatly benefit our world in many ways — [including] reducing environmental degradation, increasing global peace, reducing hunger, etc.,” Marchetta told Built In via email.
Supporting teen girls is the greatest opportunity to [make a positive impact] as girls go on to be key influencers of their families and communities.”
After amassing a community of over 600 people in just six months through Instagram and its website, U4U moved its headquarters to San Francisco. Currently, the company offers mentoring, pen pals, events and online content about various topics surrounding teen health. Marchetta said U4U has more tech-enabled offerings in the pipeline.
“U4U will offer teen girls a tailored, multi-year course which they can complete in their own time. The challenge course will meet them where they are and consistently use machine learning to predict mental health needs and tailor treat them before they become a larger problem.” Marchetta said. “Through machine learning we will hope to not only preempt problems, but also be able to deliver effective solutions because the innovative component of our program will understand the character of the individual and therefore understand how to effectively engage the person.”
After interviews with approximately 100 teenagers, parents, school counselors and teachers, U4U says it has outlined 21 different areas for challenges teen girls face, such as eating disorders and navigating parental divorce. The company plans to use innovative technologies to meet teen girls where they are and support their mental health journey.
U4U also offers resources for parents and aims to strengthen the relationship between teen girls and their parents or guardians.
