Mindset-XR Innovation Support Programme company spotlight: Little Beginnings

For December, our Mindset-XR Innovation Support Programme spotlight is on Little Beginnings Ltd and their solution Rumii.

Little Beginnings Ltd, founded in 2021 by Dr Fin Williams, uses immersive extended reality to help young people maintain mental wellbeing.

Their mission is to make every smartphone a mental health guardian.

Rumii — a web app and platform already piloted in six schools — passively analyses smartphone data on behaviours, habits, and relationship to phones to detect signs of mental health decline.

When the algorithm detects changes in these patterns, it responds with supportive nudges and conversational AI that helps guide behavioural change.

Below, we hear from Fin who shares insights about the company and her innovative approach to wellbeing.

What advice would you give budding innovators?

Build a strong network - not just your immediate team, but also fellow founders for guidance and strategic advisors who can shape your go-to-market strategy and open key connections.

What's the most exciting fact you have about the use of XR in mental health?

The most exciting impact is the deeper sense of immersion and its effect on engagement.

A 2022 study in Frontiers in Psychology found that 70% of participants felt more engaged and experienced a stronger sense of presence.

For us, using AR to create vivid visual memory imprints for breathwork and compassion practices offers the potential for these techniques to be recalled more easily when they’re needed most.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced so far in developing your innovation?

Funding! And the pace of change in the tech. We’re in one of the toughest climates, building in new market sectors, with technology that is advancing all the time. The bar to evidence the impact is much higher from potential investors, and we have had to be really creative with what we develop and where we spend funds to get us to the next milestone.

Why should the health and care system be excited about your innovation?

Our ability to use raw sensor data to passively detect and proactively support means we can enable remote patient monitoring, early detection within the health system, and timely intervention without relying on young people to report or seek help, which is often hardest when they’re struggling.

This impact is already resonating with users; as one person who trialled our product shared, “I’ve never seen anything like this before - it’s great to be able to see my behavioural health like this!”