Singapore-headquartered mental health startup Intellect has raised US$10 million in an extension of its Series A round, doubling the total amount of Series A funding received within six months. This extended round was led by Tiger Global and joined by new investors K3 Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Singtel Innov8, and PERSOL Holdings, with participation from existing investors Insignia Ventures Partners and HOF Capital.

Just this January, the startup had raised an initial US$10 million in a round led by HOF Capital. Intellect's total funding now stands at US$23 million. The fresh capital will be used to drive Intellect's expansion across Asia, including expanding the team size, according to the company.

Founded in 2020 by Theodoric Chew and Anurag Chutani, Intellect provides behavioural and mental health support in the form of app-based coaching and therapy programmes. Chew said of the company's objective: “Intellect’s mission is to normalise mental health and shift the culture towards more open conversations about personal wellbeing, ultimately removing the stigma attached. We are fortunate that Intellect is able to not just defend, but heavily double down on our work to change how mental health care is done for all of Asia Pacific."

Jay Chen, partner at Tiger Global, called mental health a "critical component of healthcare" and said the Intellect team is building a "flexible, responsive and modern system" to offer access to mental healthcare across Asia.

Mental health, typically stigmatised in many Asian countries, has become an increasingly mainstream focus since the pandemic, and startups aiming to make mental health more accessible have been drawing investor attention. Although the sector is still not well covered, estimates suggest that mental health startups in Asia may have raised as much as US$400 million in 2021.