TherapyChat raises €5M in its latest funding round

Alessandro De Sario TherapyChat

TherapyChat, the leading video-based online therapy platform, has raised €5 million in Series A funding led by Next Chance Group, as a follow-on offering to their original seed investment.

Founded in Madrid in 2016, the company provides video therapy via a network of more than 350 licensed therapists across Spain and the UK serving patients in more than 30 countries. Through its mobile app and web, the company aims to democratize access to therapy by promoting behavioural health as a lifestyle choice, not a one-time event. Additionally, the company is one of the few players that heavily invested in AI, which has enabled it to improve interactions between therapists and their patients and automate more than 95% of its operations, reaching early-stage profitability.

“We had to turn to technology to be able to manage the hyper-growth that came during the pandemic and its aftermath,” says Alessandro De Sario, founder and CEO at TherapyChat. In fact, since the start of lockdown, TherapyChat users increased ninefold. 92% percent of these users return for a second session and 89% admit that they have seen an improvement in their anxiety and depression symptoms in the mid-term. “Technology is our ally. It enabled us to channel all this hyper growth besides proving to be a key driver in reaching profitability,” he continues.

Investor Nicolás Luca de Tena, President of Next Chance Group, feels the same way. “We have been impressed by TherapyChat for being the only player in the space to deliver early on strong growth with profitable unit economics. We find this combination to be unique in an industry with especially high CACs. In fact, this has been the main rationale behind choosing to continue our partnership with the company”, he says.

This funding round will enable the company to export its model and grow in new markets in Europe, including Italy and France. The funds will also be used to continue developing its product and to further grow its corporate customer base, which already capitalizes on partnerships with more than 150 companies, including insurance player Sanitas (part of Bupa) and Gympass.

“During the pandemic, multiple companies contacted us to offer our services to their employees. This is the reason why we decided to expand our product offering to add B2B services, a channel that today has more than 250,000 covered lives and will be a major source of growth going forward,” says Alessandro.

The global health crisis has had a major impact on the mental health of Europeans. Around 190 million Europeans suffer from mental illness, with 25% of them having had at least one major anxiety or depression episode in the past year and the global pandemic putting further strains upon suffering individuals. Furthermore, WHO forecasts that mental health issues will be the main cause of disability by 2030. With the growing social demand for greater attention to mental health, TherapyChat offers high-quality therapy and is backed by the Spanish Official College of Psychologists, together with whom they have signed a code of best practices for online therapy.