Whylab secures six-figure investments

The mental health start-up wants to use the money to further develop its product and hire new employees.

The Berlin-based start-up Whylab has successfully completed its pre-seed financing round. The mental health company was able to raise a mid-six-figure sum. The exact amount is not known. Among others, the business angel group Better Ventures participated. This group includes Christoph Behn, Tina Dreimann, Cedric Duvinage, Björn Kolbmüller and Dörte Kaschdailis. Also on board are investor Shio Capital, Mister-Spex co-CEO Mirko Caspar, Tandemploy founder Anna Kaiser, Sofatutor CEO Stephan Bayer, Andre Heeg from BCG Digital Ventures and Julius Göllner, co-founder of F&P Solution.

Whylab plans to put the capital into further developing its product. The company is also looking to hire new tech, marketing and operations staff. Co-founder Luca Lea Kleene believes her solution can improve the mental health of many people. "The funding round accelerates our mission to help as many people as possible train their mental health and contribute to their overall happiness," she says. According to investor Tina Dreimann of Better Ventures, Whylab addresses a highly relevant social issue, which has been amplified by the pandemic. "Around 18 million adults are affected by mental illness every year in Germany alone. Prevention services in the field of Mental Health, such as those offered by Whylab, are therefore all the more important," she says.

Luca Lea Kleene, Nikola Berkmann and Sarah Reitz founded Whylab in December 2020 during the pandemic. The start-up aims to become a kind of "digital gym for mental health". The founders are betting that in the future it could be normal to exercise your mental well-being as regularly as your physical well-being. The focus of their work is a virtual group format in which participants are accompanied by a trained coach for at least six weeks in regular group sessions. A matching process is designed to ensure good group constellations. In addition to virtual coaching sessions, Whylab also offers a digital companion to support users in their personal development through regular exercise sessions.