Digging Deep

Name

Digging Deep

Legal name

The Digging Deep Project

Website

https://diggingdeep.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Digging Deep is a US nonprofit that builds creative emotional-wellbeing tools — including the free Shadow's Edge mobile game, guided journals, workbooks, and a facilitator training platform — for youth and the adults who support them across six countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Child and Youth Services (62411)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Executive Functioning & Behavioral Support Tools (ADHD, SEL/Behavior Tracking, Routines) (EDAFAKAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Special Needs Skill-Building & Therapy Learning Apps (Autism, OT/PT, Life Skills) (EDAFAKAJ), Functional Life Skills & Transition-to-Adulthood Curriculum (ADL, Vocational, Community) (EDAGAMAJ)

Keywords

• Youth emotional wellness
• Digital mental health
• Interactive mobile gaming
• Creative journaling tools
• Facilitator training platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Book and Workbook Sales: Physical and digital guided journals and themed workbooks sold through Amazon marketplace for youth emotional wellbeing.
2. Training Platform Subscriptions: Digging Deep Connect micro learning modules provide professional development for adults working with youth. Revenue from training program access.
3. Partnership and Grant Funding: Fiscal sponsorship through The Giving Back Fund enables grant funding and charitable donations. Partnerships with foundations and clinical institutions support research and program delivery.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Digging Deep produces a suite of creative emotional-wellbeing tools for youth and the adults who support them, anchored by the free Shadow's Edge interactive mobile game (which uses LLM-powered chatbot characters), the Digging Deep Journal, themed Self-Expression Workbooks, the Shadow's Edge Activity Book, and the Digging Deep CONNECT self-service training platform that teaches adults playful, peaceful communication techniques for engaging youth. The portfolio is delivered through app stores, Amazon, a web training platform, and a global partnership network with universities, foundations, clinical institutions, and municipalities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Shadow's Edge: A story-driven interactive mobile game set in a city decimated by storm, where users restore the city and themselves through stages of Disruption, Disillusionment and Discovery.
• Digging Deep Journal
• Self-Expression Workbooks
• Shadow's Edge Activity Book
• Digging Deep Connect

Products and services

• Shadow's Edge App A free, story-driven interactive mobile experience set in a city decimated by storm, where users restore the city and themselves through stages of Disruption, Disillusionment, and Discovery. Features LLM-powered AI chatbot characters that dynamically respond to player prompts. Available free in multiple languages for youth worldwide.
• Digging Deep CONNECT A self-service web-based micro learning platform for adults teaching playful, peaceful communication skills for engaging youth. Covers creative tools, journaling prompts, gameplay facilitation, and scripts for nonjudgmental individual and group discussion; requires no specialized professional training as prerequisite.
• The Digging Deep Journal An original 140-page guided journal for hospitalized or chronically ill children and teens facing health challenges, co-authored by Sheri Sobrato and Rose Offner. Sold through Amazon marketplace.
• Self-Expression Workbooks

Quantifiable outcome

• Measurable gains in identity exploration, positive affect, and benefit-finding among young cancer survivors
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record.

• Polish Psychological Society / Medical InstitutionsStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Program introducing concept to 300 psychologists and medical students, with 70 going deep in 10-person cohorts to work with Polish youth and Ukrainian refugees.
• Hatay Municipality (Türkiye)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Trained 10 psychologists to support 500+ earthquake-survivor youth in two programs. Hatay Municipality has adopted these workshops for community use, scaling the program regionally.
• Fundación Cinde (Colombia)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Partnership with Colombian foundation in Soacha and Pereira. Youth co-created Spanish content for peers facing adversity and violence trauma. Platform gave youth a voice and way to help others. 1,000+ young people reached through school and community workshops.
• Swiss Research InstitutionsStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Study with 75 young people using 10+ min/day gameplay for 30 days. Results showed improved resilience, wellbeing, and self-efficacy with reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms.
• US Clinical Trial Partners (177 AYA Cancer Survivors)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Randomized clinical trial in USA with adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Participants showed measurable gains in identity exploration, positive affect, and benefit-finding. The creative format gave young cancer survivors a language they didn't have before.
• Netherlands Research PartnersStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Study with 55 young people ages 13-22 living with illness. 4-week diary and interview study tracked positive trends across all seven resilience factors with significant gains in optimism, emotional regulation, and positive self-identity.
• The Giving Back FundOthersFiscal sponsor of The Digging Deep Project. Provides administrative infrastructure, charitable status management, and grant processing services. Located at 500 Commercial Street, Boston, MA.
• Corporate Champions Program PartnersOthersLogo display partners including leading universities and clinical institutions focused on measurable resilience and emotional health tools for youth worldwide. Part of The Digging Deep Project: 'Nurturing Creativity, Inspiring Wellbeing' initiative.

Scale indicators7 records

Direct peers

• Mightier: Mightier offers game-based emotional regulation tools for children and families, with biofeedback-enabled gameplay. Directly comparable to Digging Deep's play-based, story-driven approach to youth emotional wellness, with similar parent-facing support resources.
• Big Life Journal: Big Life Journal produces journals, workbooks, and digital resources for kids and teens focused on social-emotional learning, resilience, and growth mindset. Highly comparable product format (guided journals and workbooks sold online) and similar target audience (children, teens, parents, educators).
• Koko: Koko provides peer-support-based mental health interventions for young people via chat and AI-augmented tools. Comparable as a digital youth mental-health platform with peer-driven emotional support, though Koko's model leans more heavily on AI-mediated peer conversations than Digging Deep's narrative gameplay.

Broad incumbents

• Headspace: Headspace is a major meditation and mental wellness platform with a dedicated Headspace for Education product targeting schools and educators. Overlaps in mission (youth emotional wellness via digital tools) but offers a broader meditation-focused portfolio rather than narrative games and journaling.
• Calm: Calm is a leading meditation and sleep app that has expanded into youth and family content. Broad incumbent in the same digital mental-wellness category as Digging Deep but with a much larger content library, marketing budget, and subscription pricing infrastructure.

Emerging players

• 7 Cups: 7 Cups provides emotional support and online therapy services with a strong teen and young-adult user base. Comparable youth mental-health focus and freemium access model, though 7 Cups emphasizes peer-listener chat rather than narrative gameplay and journaling.
• Moodfit: Moodfit offers a mental health app with mood tracking, CBT exercises, and resilience-building tools. Overlaps with Digging Deep's emotional resilience and self-regulation goals but targets a broader adult demographic through self-guided app exercises rather than narrative gameplay.
• Happify: Happify offers science-based digital mental health programs using gamified activities and CBT techniques. Comparable as a digitally delivered, evidence-based mental wellness product, though Happify targets a broader adult audience while Digging Deep focuses on youth.

Market position

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/shadowsedgegame
• Xx.com/shadowsedgegame
• Instagraminstagram.com/shadowsedgegame
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/digging-deep

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Digging Deep