How Covid led Asian startups to revolutionize mental health support

Many Asian countries have introduced stricter Covid-19 restrictions than other continents – a reality that has raised concerns about heightened levels of stress, anxiety and isolation. Now, several young entrepreneurs are leveraging technology to provide greater access to mental health in Asia.

In July, Singapore-based Intellect raised $20 million in its Series A funding, the largest amount raised by a mental health startup in Asia.

Founded in 2019, Intellect runs a mobile app that regularly checks users’ moods, offers help sessions and exercises tailored to their needs, and allows them to connect with therapists in real-time if needed.

“The traditional form of therapy is face-to-face and face-to-face, and it’s hard to measure,” said Theodoric Chew, 26-year-old co-founder of Intellect. “When technology comes in, we can expand access to mental care for everyone.”

The startup has served more than 3 million users in the Asia-Pacific region in 15 languages ​​since services began in early 2020.

Mental health as a spectrum

Chew said he was inspired to try to popularize mental health after battling a panic attack when he was 16.

“I saw firsthand how therapy and working with professionals helped me get better,” he said. “On the other hand, I saw many people struggling across the region – not clinically – but without the right tools or knowledge to access care.”

Although Intellect was founded before the pandemic, it quickly grew in popularity as companies became aware of the mental health of their employees and Covid-19-related lockdowns and quarantines were imposed.

“A lot of people were thrown into a number of things — pandemic anxiety, being locked away and getting stay-at-home warnings,” he said. “What has fundamentally changed is that mental health is no longer just a pleasant element that companies should consider, it is something that is needed today.”

“It really benefits companies… because if you’re not feeling good mentally, you tend not to perform as well,” he said.

Justin Kim, CEO and co-founder of Ami, another digital mental health start-up based in Singapore and Jakarta, agreed that mental health offerings need to be scaled.

“Many companies are spending millions of dollars a year and paying for gyms. But why don’t people invest in their mental health in the same way? It’s because there are no features being offered to them, it’s so affordable and accessible,” he added.

Since the start-up was founded in January of this year, it has raised at least $3 million from various investors, including Meta, which owns Facebook.

Kim’s team is working on developing an app that would allow users to text or call mental health coaches anytime, confidentially, without having to make an appointment. He said this allows users to seek professional help whenever they need it in the most efficient way.

Creating a happier workforce

Both Chew and Kim target employers in their business models – companies can pay for a subscription and workers will have unlimited access to their services, which are kept private from their bosses.

Alistair Carmichael, associate partner at McKinsey & Company, said employers will benefit from better mental health in their workforce. “The impacts of poor mental health outcomes are significant. […] If we focus on the employment and organizational level, these impacts can be things like presenteeism, absenteeism, lost productivity, lost engagement and burnout.”

Depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy $1 trillion a year in lost productivity, according to a World Health Organization estimate. And a WHO report in March showed that the global prevalence of these diseases increased by 25% during the first year of the pandemic.

Chew said Intellect is trying to close the gap by proactively protecting mental well-being before symptoms get worse. When employees open the app, the system asks how they feel right now. Mini “help sessions” are also provided for users who are having a hard time, while live therapy sessions are also available for those in need.

The app features various learning programs for users to overcome mental blocks such as self-esteem issues, depression or procrastination. A journaling function guides users to write down what’s on their mind, while a “mood timeline” tracks their stress levels.

Since launching the app, Intellect has served a number of high-profile enterprise customers such as Dell, Foodpanda and Singapore-based communications conglomerate Singtel, said Chew, which has allowed the company to expand from a team of two to 80.

Kim, whose start-up is building a prototype, said employers can also benefit from identifying general trends and concerns among their workforces.

“With employee consent, we share aggregated levels of data. And that gives employers a bird’s-eye view of what their employees are really up against, that they need to dig deep.”

“But we never identified who said that, because we don’t want employees to feel like this isn’t a safe space where they can freely address concerns they have.”

Breaking the social stigma

Karen Lau, a Hong Kong-based clinical psychologist with the Mind HK mental health initiative, said that addressing mental health in Asia presents unique challenges.

“In Asian contexts, many cultures tend to uphold values ​​such as honor and pride,” he said. “Illness in the mind is often seen and judged as a sign of weakness and a source of shame for the family.”

“I think when it comes to mental health, as well as your physical health, all problems are easier to prevent than to fix,” Kim said. “If people get out there and admit and celebrate the fact that they are getting coaching or services to invest in their mental health, that will normalize the practice.”

Chew said one of his goals is to break social stigma and build a new mental health system for the Asia-Pacific region.

“Mental health has a huge stigma across Asia, for what we traditionally see as a clinical problem, a crisis,” he said. “We view mental health as just as important as physical health. You and I face things like stress, burnout, sleep and relationship issues as well. This is where, in fact, many of us should start working on our mental well-being.”