Sophia Thiel founds a start-up

The former fitness influencer is founding a mental health start-up together with her boyfriend. She announced this in a video.

"We're right on Marienplatz in an office," says influencer Sophia Thiel at the start of her new YouTube video and announces: She and her boyfriend Raphael Birchner are founding a start-up. In their almost ten-minute video, the pair give a room tour of their small office in the center of Munich.

Thiel and Birchner found the mental health start-up SR Health. Over dinner at the end of 2020, they both came up with the idea that "the content of psychotherapy should be accessible to everyone", says Birchner, describing the business idea. "Our higher vision is to invalidate the perfect illusory world on social media," Thiel continues. Psychotherapy should lose its negative stigma. Both speak openly about their therapy experience. Thiel and Birchner have already developed a concept and a prototype, are currently looking for employees and are working with therapists. "But we don't want to give too much away yet," says Thiel. "Not that it will all come in a year's time. Then the tension will be gone."

The company SR Health was entered in the company register at Traunstein Local Court at the beginning of May. However, an address in Rohrdorf is entered as the business address and not in Munich city center. The two have stated their business purpose as: "Development and distribution of digital applications, in particular but not exclusively web applications and mobile applications to improve mental well-being and to support the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness". They also apparently want to sell sleep sprays, diaries and "other products to improve mental well-being". However, medical activities are excluded.

Sophia Thiel became known as a fitness influencer, but withdrew from social media for almost two years. She suffered from a mental illness and developed an eating disorder. Since her return, she has been giving tips on how to improve mental health and has also written a book.