S’pore startup Intellect raises another US$10M funding to grow presence and team across APAC

Singapore-headquartered mental health startup Intellect, a leading voice artificial intelligence (AI) startup based in Singapore, has raised an additional US$10 million (S$14.07 million) in a Series A extension led by Tiger Global.

“We are excited to partner with the Intellect team as it builds a flexible, responsive and modern system for a critical component of healthcare”, highlighted Jay Chen, Partner at Tiger Global.

This round was joined by new investors such as K3 Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Singtel Innov8, and PERSOL Holdings. Existing investors like Insignia Ventures Partners and HOF capital also participated. 

With the additional funding gained, Intellect’s Series A funding is now a total of US$20 million (S$28.13 million), making this the largest venture round raised by any health company in Asia, and is planning to expand its services across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

Intellect’s mission

Co-founder and CEO Theodoric Chew established Intellect in 2020, with the aim of focusing on driving discourse by normalising mental wellbeing conversations at the workplace, an appropriate and needed advocacy considering today’s paradigm shift in addressing personal and employee wellbeing in the workplace.  

Providing localised coverage and self-guided programs that are available in 15 languages, Intellect elevates employee-employer communication to the next level. Moreover, with its accessible support towards mental health concerns, Intellect has facilitated timely interventions through self-guided cognitive behaviour therapy programs that foster positive behavioural shifts.

With global demand for mental healthcare rising in recent years, Intellect has since grown to become Asia’s largest mental health startup, serving over three million people in more than 60 countries. It currently works with a variety of international enterprise companies such as Merck, Philips, foodpanda, Singtel, Shopee, Omnicom Media Group and abrdn, amongst others. 

Expanding across APAC

However, there are still gaps in the healthcare industry that need to be addressed in the APAC region. According to a 2021 APAC workplace health study by Intellect, 84 per cent of APAC respondents reported high levels of exhaustion, while 88 per cent said they were disengaged from work. 

As such, in efforts to strengthen product, clinical, and commercial capabilities for workforces across APAC, the fresh capital gain will be used to scale Intellect’s commercial expansion plans and teams across Asia. 

Remaining focused on building the region’s first digitally-enabled, fully-stacked mental healthcare system, Intellect continues to put employee wellbeing a priority by providing an accessible choice for all workforces across APAC. 

“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.

Our goal is to play a leading role in solving the region’s mental health crisis, and we’re truly excited to be at the forefront of driving this charge.” 

As such, Intellect’s market leadership is now cemented within the fast-growing mental health category.

Featured Image Credit: Startup Story

Also read: S’pore mental health startup Intellect raises US$10M in Series A round to fuel Asia expansion