Could this Triangle startup be a tool in the fight against rising teen depression rates?

Zachery Eanes
·4 min read

N&O Innovation and Technology Newsletter: April 9, 2021

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Teen depression is rising. Could a new Triangle startup help parents catch the signs of depression before issues arise?

That’s what Triangle entrepreneur Doug Kaufman is hoping to do with his new startup, Vertroos Health.

Kaufman, who sold his last startup TransLoc to Ford, envisions the startup’s platform as a Fitbit for mental health. The system analyzes the digital activity of a teenager over time for signs they could be on the path to a mental health challenge.

Just like we can count our steps to track health, we can track our digital habits for signs of negativity, Kaufman said.

“We want to point the patterns out to you,” Kaufman said. Then we could address issues before a problem happens, he said.

[Read more here]

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Tech news from the Triangle

  • Whistleblower raises hygiene concerns from 2018 FDA inspection of Merck’s Durham plant, which will soon be making J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine. [N&O]

  • More than 60 law enforcement agencies in NC used the controversial facial recognition app Clearview. [N&O]

  • Triangle tech entrepreneurs top N.C.’s richest list. [N&O]

  • We surveyed over 110 women-owned businesses about what the Triangle’s climate is like for them, and what their challenges are. Here’s what we heard. [N&O]

  • Fidelity Investments to expand RTP hub by 225 positions, many of them tech focused jobs. [N&O]

  • Scot Wingo’s annual Triangle Tweener list. [Medium]

  • Morrisville-based InMotionNow has acquired Dutch digital asset management platform developer Lytho. [TBJ]

  • Matthew Kane, CEO of Precision BioSciences, is stepping down. [TBJ]

The American Underground in Durham will again serve as the host for the Google for Startups exchange for black founders.
The American Underground in Durham will again serve as the host for the Google for Startups exchange for black founders.

(The American Underground in Durham.)

Newsletter Extra

American Underground and Raleigh Founded link up

Two of the Triangle’s most important coworking and startup hubs, Durham’s the American Underground and Raleigh Founded, are partnering for the first time.

Going forward, members of each community will now be able to use each other’s spaces on a limited basis, i.e. one day per week or four days per month.

Adam Klein, who runs the American Underground, said it’s a move the two organization had long talked about.

“It was a bit overdue,” Klein said. “I think it’s a pretty strong signal to the region that Raleigh and Durham are united and working together to make sure that our entrepreneurs have everything they need to succeed.”

Jes Porta, who leads Raleigh Founded, said the partnership is about realizing that Raleigh and Durham are part of the same ecosystem, not separate. Many people go between both on a daily basis.

The partnership could expand, Porta and Klein said, with the two hubs working on joint programming. “With them only in Durham and us only in Raleigh, we aren’t really competitors,” Porta said, “and we are like minded.”

What I’m reading

  • Drought in Taiwan pits chip makers against farmers. [NYT]

  • Newest backer of medical marijuana: One of North Carolina’s top Republican lawmakers. [N&O]

  • Amazon’s lead widens in union vote in Alabama. [CNBC]

  • Is it time for new laws of physics? [NYT]

  • Watch a monkey equipped with Elon Musk’s Neuralink device play Pong with its brain. [Techcrunch]

  • Ghost forests are creeping along N.C.’s coast. They’re big enough to be seen from space. [N&O]

Other Triangle business

  • The N&O directory of more than 100 women-owned businesses in the Triangle. [N&O]

  • Chapel Hill has questions about developers’ plan to turn ‘obsolete’ mall inside out. [N&O]

  • Raleigh approves 30-story tower by downtown Marbles Kids Museum. [N&O]

  • Popular bakery Union Special is expanding to downtown Raleigh. [N&O]

Let me know what you’re seeing. Email me at zeanes@newsobserver.com. Tweet me @zeanes. Call me at 919-829-4516.

Zachery Eanes is the Innovate Raleigh reporter for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. He covers technology, startups and main street businesses, biotechnology, and education issues related to those areas.

This newsletter was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate