Mental health AI assistant Wysa secures $20 million to expand globally
The company will use the capital to further expand into the US, UK, India and other global markets across enterprises, and health providers as well as to improve wider usability through multi-lingual support and easier access via WhatsApp.
Wysa, a digital platform for mental health, on Thursday raised $20 million in a fresh round of funding led by HealthQuad, along with participation from British International Investment (BII). Existing investors W Health Ventures, Kae Capital, Google Assistant Investments, and pi Ventures amongst others also participated in the round.
The company will use the capital to further expand into the US, UK, India and other global markets across enterprises, and health providers as well as to improve wider usability through multi-lingual support and easier access via WhatsApp.
Founded in 2015 by Jo Aggarwal and Ramakant Vempati, Wysa is an automated mental health support app, available both to individuals, through employer benefits programs and healthcare services. The company supports individuals with the help of an “emotionally intelligent” conversational agent which guides users via evidence-based cognitive-behavioural techniques (CBT), meditation, breathing and mindfulness exercises, as well as micro-actions to help build mental resilience skills.
For employers, Wysa offers a workplace solution that caters to the full spectrum of behavioural health needs. This solution embeds into existing company benefits, such as Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) or external health care provider networks, and can be customised by geography or cohort. Currently, Wysa claims to have facilitated over 400 million conversations with 4.5 million users in 65 countries.
“Wysa has not only been extremely successful as a consumer well-being platform but has also developed into a clinically validated, powerful tool to proactively manage mental health and well-being. Wysa meets people where they are, whether that means a little help with occasional workplace stress, right up to coping with debilitating pain, depression and anxiety. With this funding, we look forward to scaling up further and helping millions of more people,” said Ramakant Vempati, co-founder of Wysa in a statement.