Hypnotherapy is an effective tool to ease anxiety and stress. Clementine, built to empower women and make them feel happy and healthy, supports women’s mental wellbeing through hypnotherapy via its app. The app offers three different types of cognitive hypnotherapy sessions – Sleep, Calm, and Confidence – that are designed to fit into a woman’s busy schedule. Ranging from a quick 3-minute session to a 30-minutes of deep sleep, all sessions are designed to help women alleviate stress, anxiety, and sleep issues.
London TechWatch caught up with Founder Kim Palmer to learn more about the inspiration behind Clementine, her experience fundraising, and the company’s recent round.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We raised £1M in a Seed round.
Our investors were the London-based impact investors Fortunis Capital led by their investment director Emma MacRae.
Tell us about the product or service Clementine offers.
Clementine provides world-leading virtual professional hypnotherapy sessions as well as a suite of wellness products to empower women to feel more confident, capable, and on top of their game.
We have a big mission which is to help women to start believing that they can do anything and stop thinking that they can’t – shifting their mindsets so they are filled with lots of empowering beliefs about themselves.
What inspired the start of Clementine?
I hit on the idea of a hypnotherapy app to help women feel calmer and better equipped to cope with everyday life after suffering a series of panic attacks while juggling a high-profile job, pregnancy, and social pressures. I discovered the transformative effects of hypnotherapy after turning to it as a last resort when nothing else worked
How is Clementine different?
We are the only mental wellbeing app that really, really understands what women need when it comes to their mental wellbeing. In a space where the leading apps are all lead by men, it’s time to shake this up.
We use cognitive hypnotherapy vs mindfulness meditation – which we feel is much easier for people with busy brains to access. Our approach relieves pressure by helping you relax immediately vs make you feel like you need to ‘train’ yourself to calm down your mind.
We have designed our sessions to fit into women’s busy schedules – this is so important because right now no one has ‘extra’ time or headspace to dedicate to helping and supporting their mental wellbeing – but this is exactly the time when we need help. So we have a range of short and long sessions that span the entire day so you could kick start your day with a super short 3 min session, receive a few empowering mantras that just pop up during the day when you least expect then, and drift off to sleep with a 30-minute deep sleep session that you will probably never hear the end of.
To add a little more oomph we’ve included sessions & mantras with swearing. These have proven to be incredibly popular as they provide extra motivation and light relief.
What market are you targeting and how big is it?
Another way to put this is how many women do you know that struggle with sleep, stress, anxiety, feeling a bit low or lost, depressed, or find that they just can’t cope with the stress of everyday life? Sadly, I’m sure you will say many. There are millions of women who are having a really tough time with their mental wellbeing. And sadly we aren’t just talking about one specific age range – women experience the same sorts of challenges throughout their life but with different triggers ie. Uni pressure, starting work, work pressures, relationships, menopause, fertility to name a few.
What’s your business model?
Women can choose to have the free version of our app or they can subscribe to access even more support.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
Covid-19 has had a disproportionate effect on the mental wellness of women. Evidence shows that during this crisis, women suffer more from stress, anxiety, and lack of sleep than men. Research by KFF shows 57% of mothers of children under 18 say their mental health has worsened during Covid-19 compared to 37% of men.
What was the funding process like?
With Fortunis we ended up having a conversation rather than go through the traditional pitch process. Of course, they wanted a robust business plan, but it was not just about the potential returns for investors, but they were genuinely interested in the positive impact their funding could make on the lives of women. It was helped of course, that the Fortunis lead was the wonderful Emma MacRae.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The VC landscape is traditionally challenging for women, so we are really bucking the trend here. Treasury reports show for every £1 of VC investment, all-female founder teams get less than 1%, all-male founder teams get 89% and mixed-gender teams get 10%.
There can be unconscious gender bias in the industry, especially around the pitch process which can be intimidating. Research shows that many investors prefer pitches presented by male entrepreneurs compared with pitches made by female entrepreneurs, even when the content of the pitch is the same.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Emma and the team at Fortunis Capital only invest in innovators who will deliver strong returns while making a difference to the world we live in. Emma recognised what I had gone through as a working mother and that we were offering a solution to a problem worth solving. And then there was the personal chemistry, Emma and instantly connected.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
The Fortunis funding will drive a major expansion programme offering additional services – including self-help journals, socially-distanced events with transformative results, a wellness cosmetic and body care collaboration with a leading cosmetologist, and an audio series hosted by leading broadcasters.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
If you really need money (and a lot of it) then I would highly recommend hiring someone who knows how to secure money. And there are people out there who will do this and get paid once the money is secured.
I personally found the whole experience of fundraising very daunting to begin with. I had no idea where to start, who to talk to, sources of money or even the language was scary to me. I enlisted the support of an expert who could walk me through the process from beginning to end. This expedited my learning and gave me the confidence to fundraise and go for it.
I personally found the whole experience of fundraising very daunting to begin with. I had no idea where to start, who to talk to, sources of money or even the language was scary to me. I enlisted the support of an expert who could walk me through the process from beginning to end. This expedited my learning and gave me the confidence to fundraise and go for it.
I do believe that there is money out there for businesses to access – but it’s finding someone to help you navigate the process which could really help.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Clementine is not just an app – it will become a community for women to access where we support them in lots of different ways. Our focus is on building an exceptional product so that we will be the go-to solution in women’s back pocket for when they need help.
What is your favorite restaurant in London?
Well my favourite place for an affordable and fun vibe is Wahaca. I love their margarita cocktails.
You are seconds away from signing up for the hottest list in London Tech! Join the millions and keep up with the stories shaping entrepreneurship. Sign up today
