Wysa, a startup that provides AI-driven mental health support through an app, has received a fresh injection of $20 million in Series B funding from Health Quad and British International Investment. 

With this, Wysa has raised a total of $29.4 million in funding since the startup began life back in 2015. Ramakant Vempati, the co-founder of Wysa, said that the new funding would be used to help expand the company’s reach in the UK, US, and India. It also plans to use the funding to conduct more clinical trials. In the US, Wysa is seeking FDA approval as a prescription digital therapeutic, which allows physicians to prescribe the app as a course of treatment. 

The app claims to have 4.5 million users from 65 countries. An AI-powered bot initially chats with users and then recommends further steps the user can take on their mental health journey. Users are triaged according to their individual needs and offered guidance through cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) exercises before guiding them to mental health services or other support.

Ramakant Vempati, the co-founder of Wysa, said: “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.”

Wysa’s other competitors in the mental health space include Talkspace and Woebot. In India, the app also comes with YourDost and Inner Hour. 

More information available through Wysa’s press release.