Mental health chatbot Wysa raises $20M

Mental health chatbot Wysa scored $20 million in a Series B financing round led by HealthQuad.

Other participants in the raise include British International Investment (BII) and previous investors W Health Ventures, Kae Capital, Google Assistant Investments and pi Ventures. 

The Series B comes a little over a year after Wysa announced a $5.5 million Series A fundraise. The startup also recently received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation to use its chatbot with adults who have chronic musculoskeletal pain and related depression and anxiety.

WHAT IT DOES

Wysa offers an AI chatbot that can guide users through cognitive behavioral therapy for concerns like low mood, anxiety and stress. The startup’s employer offering also includes a self-care library of exercises around self-esteem, sleep and mindfulness, as well as optional access to Wysa human coaches.

Wysa said the chatbot can also triage users towards higher levels of care, like a mental health professional or a crisis support line, if patients need more support.

The startup plans to use the influx of capital to expand globally, particularly in the U.S., the U.K. and India. The Series B will also support more languages, as well as access through the messaging service WhatsApp.

“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,” cofounder Ramakant Vempati said in a statement.

“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.”

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Another company offering a mental health chatbot is Woebot Health, which recently scored a $9.5 million investment from Leaps by Bayer. Woebot also closed a $90 million Series B round and landed its own Breakthrough Device Designation for its postpartum depression digital therapeutic in 2021. 

However, there are other companies offering health-related chatbots, including triage and navigation platform Ada Health and Babylon Health’s symptom checker. 

Though competition is fierce in the larger digital mental health space, the clinical area continues to be a popular focus for investors. According to Rock Health’s latest digital health funding report, mental health startups raised $1.3 billion through the first half of 2022.