ifeel, the leading European mental health solution for the enterprise and insurance world, has raised a US$20 million Series B investment co-led by FinTLV Ventures and Korelya Capital, and with the participation of its’ existing investors SCOR Ventures, Nauta and UNIQA Ventures.
ifeel has filled a much-needed gap in the market as corporates and insurance companies struggle to face the costs associated with mental health among employees and insured collectives.
For corporates, these costs end up lacerating bottom-lines in the shape of an ever increasing number of employees going on mental health sick leaves. However, ifeel’s data shows how burnout, anxiety and depression are now commonplace among the average employee, and not just prevalent among the higher risk population.
This means that preventing mild cases from deteriorating helps bottom lines but also company cultures. Addressing such tendency is at the core of ifeel’s product, which is unusually fit for attending the full spectrum of mental health needs. ifeel’s approach serves top executives by helping managers deal with mental health issues through human yet data-first methodologies, and it serves the overall employee population, high-risk or low, in finding a sustainable way out of psychological distress through a suite of therapy and self-help modalities.
For insurance companies, costs come in the form of soaring claims from an escalating demand for mental health care; but also in the shape of low renewal rates from insurees whose needs are not met by a system that takes up to six months to provide care, very often too late or too meager. Further, the insurance industry loses money by covering only 3% of policy-holders for mental health. ifeel’s data has proven distinctively superior to current means of underwriting, especially for group (employer) plans, thus constituting a huge catalyst for opening up the group insurance market.
“The mental health industry needs structural change”, posits ifeel CEO Amir Kaplan. In a time when having the right clinical insights on a patient population is critical to preventing, treating and underwriting mental health disorders appropriately, ifeel emerges as a solution that is capable of driving optimal mental health outcomes at scale. ifeel combines advanced data analytics, clinical research and state-of-the-art AI models to provide employers and insurers with the right tools to manage the mental health of end employees and insured people. With a proprietary modular risk approach to mental health, ifeel is able to optimally allocate resources to help those in need, improving mental health outcomes and saving millions in disability, productivity and claims.
Gil Arazi, Founder and Managing Partner of FinTLV Ventures, stated, “Having known ifeel for over five years, we are deeply impressed by their unwavering commitment to revolutionising mental health care for enterprises and insurers. This investment is timely and essential as it addresses the growing mental health challenges faced by employees and insured populations. It also supports our thesis that the insurance industry should prioritize prevention and preventative solutions. ifeel’s exceptional team, combined with their advanced tech stack, not only offers innovative solutions but also ensures substantial cost savings and improved mental health outcomes. At FinTLV, we are excited to support ifeel in their journey to bring sustainable, effective mental health care to the world.”
Time compounds costs and mental health disorders. With a grand vision in mind since its early days in 2017, ifeel is driven by the purpose of maximising the provision of mental health to large corporates and insurers in a clinically-grounded and financially viable manner.
For this, ifeel holds technology at its core, with artificial intelligence as one of its main tenets in the development of AI models along its diagnostic, self-care, and therapy verticals. ifeel’s AI products hold an advantage over the vast majority of mental health AI solutions: they are trained by real human interactions and datapoints gathered over the years, holding clinical soundness as an embedded priority. All models are built following the highest ethical standards and all data is anonymous and confidential.
Franco Danesi, Partner at Korelya Capital, commented, saying: “Amir and the ifeel team are on a mission to tackle one of the biggest societal challenges of our times, and have built the business with the needs of the key constituencies of the mental health ecosystems in mind, including patients, provides, insurance companies and corporates. We are impressed by ifeel’s product, which we believe is truly unique in the market. The combination of mental wellness content, access to medical professionals and an AI-assisted triage engine ensure patients are offered the right product for their needs, while insurers and corporate effectively manage the increasing mental health costs of their populations.”
In total, ifeel has raised $40M since inception and this additional $20M investment will be used to grow its commercial engine across existing and new markets and to deepen its product and innovation capabilities in the mental health space.
“We could not be happier to see the ifeel founders – Amir, Martin and Gabriele – to reach this milestone. Since the last round, they have worked hard and hit all the jointly set milestones which enables ifeel to touch and change tens of thousands of lives for the better in the coming period.” said Andreas Nemeth, CEO of UNIQA Ventures.
The news follows the announcement that Alessandro Verrini has joined ifeel as Chief Revenue Officer to drive its commercial success in all markets. Alessandro has previously led commercial teams at Coachhub, Criteo and Linkedin and has vast management experience and ample achievements in the area.
Kaplan said: “We are deeply excited that Alessandro joined our executive team. We are sure that together we will capture the growth opportunity that is ahead of us.”
