VR exposure scenes for phobia treatment, run by psychologists in their clinics
TL;DR Braverung gives clinical psychologists a headset kit and a library of Indian exposure scenes (crowded local trains, flyover heights, airport gates, street dogs) to use in therapy for phobias. Clinics pay a monthly subscription. It works because exposure is the proven treatment, and setting up real-world exposure in an Indian city is slow and awkward.
Most Indians with anxiety get no care at all. A national survey analysis of women aged 18–49 found 5.83% had depression or anxiety disorders, and about 82% of them got no treatment. Those in care spent around ₹2,000 a month[1].
For specific phobias the standard treatment is graded exposure, and that is hard to arrange. Your psychologist can't easily take a client up a high-rise, onto a flight or into a packed train at peak hour, so sessions drift into talk alone. India has no published trial of VR exposure either, and I could only find single case reports.
What it does, in regulatory terms: a tool used by a registered clinician during treatment. It does not diagnose, prescribe or treat on its own. The clinician assesses the client, builds the fear ladder and decides each step. Braverung only supplies the scenes.
The kit is a standalone headset plus a tablet app. The psychologist picks a scene and an intensity - standing by the train door at one station, then at five, then at rush hour. They watch what the client sees and log distress ratings at each step. Between sessions the client gets short 360° clips on their phone as homework, released only by the clinician.
The seed pitched a consumer platform that would widen access to behavioural therapy on its own, and I've reframed it. Exposure done without a clinician can overwhelm people and push them out of care, and the bottleneck in India is clinician time, not content. A tool that makes each clinician's hour count for more is easier to sell and safer to run.
The client is usually an urban adult with a fear of flying, heights, crowds, dogs or driving. The payer is the clinic, which means independent clinical psychologists, group practices and hospital psychology departments. They already charge per session, and families spend about ₹2,000 a month on mental-health care on average[1]. My working assumption is a clinic subscription of ₹3,000–6,000 a month with one headset included. That price is an estimate and the first thing you should test.
The evidence has firmed up. A 2026 meta-analysis of 26 randomised trials with 1,649 people found large drops in phobia symptoms with VR exposure, and bigger effects for sessions under an hour[2]. In 2022 a phone-based VR programme for five common phobias cut severity scores from 28 to 7 out of 40, and a NIMHANS psychologist called the approach promising[3]. And standalone headsets now need no PC.
There is no public figure for VR therapy spending in India, and none for the number of phobia cases treated each year. The firmer signal is the size of the untreated group, since about 82% of women with common mental disorders in the survey sample got no care[1]. Treat the clinic count as your real market and measure it bottom-up in the first month.
A New Zealand app began as a self-guided app and now presents itself as a clinician support platform, with phone-based 360° scenes and a portal for therapists[4]. A US firm sells VR therapy to clinicians in the US and lists phobias among its uses[5]. Neither offers scenes shot in Indian places or pricing for Indian clinics. I found no Indian company selling a clinician VR exposure library.
| Difficulty | Moderate (39/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹60–110 L |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The software is simple. The hard parts are shooting scenes at real Indian locations with permissions and graded intensity, and winning over clinicians who are cautious about new tools and don't trust a shiny headset just because it's shiny. You will need a clinical psychologist on the founding team or as a paid adviser, and a small outcomes study before larger clinics will sign.
Braverung itself needs no clinical licence today, because it's a tool a registered clinician uses. Its users and claims are regulated.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI choose the next exposure step, judge distress or suggest treatment. The clinician decides every step, and Braverung does not diagnose, prescribe or treat on its own.
Want to work out the AI layer for Braverung? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I like this one for a founder who has worked with mental-health clinicians and can produce video content cheaply. If you want a consumer wellness app with a VR twist then this isn't it. Before you build the full library, prove that 10 paying clinics use the kit in at least four sessions a month each.
Plan for roughly ₹60–110 L over 6–9 months, mostly on filming Indian scenes, headsets and a clinical adviser.
The product is a clinician's tool, so sell only to RCI-registered psychologists and psychiatrists, follow the DPDP Act and take regulatory advice before adding any automated assessment.
Yes, with scenes shot in local places. Check how your country regulates therapy software and who may use it before you sell.
The free Braverung validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the clinical and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for psychologists, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Braverung or something close to it? The make-or-break work is getting cautious clinicians to use the kit every week, not once, and that's the kind of thing I help founders figure out. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.