Intellect, a Singapore based mental health start-up announced today that it has raised US$2.2 million in Pre-Series A funding. Participants in the funding round included family office funds, existing investors, and angel investors including, Insignia Ventures Partners, Y Combinator, XA Network, other executives from Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google. The recent funding is following the mental health platform's previous US$800,000 seed funding round held in December last year. This brings the total funding of the platform to US$3 million. 

The one year old mental health startup, which is in Y Combinator's current batch, has over 20 enterprise users on its platform ncluding Shopback, Foodpanda and Carousell, and Fortune 500 companies such as Avery Dennison and Schroders. Intellect also renders its services to government agencies and has recorded approximately 2.5 million individual users as of 1 August 2021.

With a widespread network of local providers and mental health practitioners across twelve countries in the region, the fresh capital will be used to further expand its services, product offerings in any gamut of care, and operations across Asia.

The pandemic, revolutionized lifestyles and workspace has amped up mental health concerns. Asia and the region around it witnesses quite a home grown mindset to solve mental health issues with traditional approaches. Intellect plans on bridging the gap by being at the forefront, by creating mental health awareness and providing support services across the region. 

The World Health Organization has anticipated new depressive and anxiety disorder diagnoses in 2021, prominently in Asia. CEO Theodoric Chew, talking about the challenging situation at hand, is firm on utilizing the capital raise to aid the issue with its services including, 24/7 mental health care support via app, customized product suits, physical as well as digitized therapy programs, telehealth services, etc.

Speaking on the latest funding round, Yinglan Tan, Founding Managing Partner, Insignia Ventures Partners appreciated Theodoric's efforts to build a successful and efficient platform delivering mental healthcare services for businesses and their employees. "Individuals and businesses across the world continue to become increasingly aware of the value of mental health care and are looking for the best ways to access these services," he said.

Other investors also mentioned how concerns over amplifying mental health issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic are driving the growth of mental health support services globally and around the region.

Intellect has also announced the recent appointment of professional advisors to its advisory board. Brian Rabben, former Headspace Vice President, Marketing; Former Chairman of Horangi, Kevin Lee, Carousell Co-founder & CEO Quek Siu Rui are among the recent entries to the advisory panel.