UK startup raises £1.5m for evidence-based mental health game for teenage students

PsycApps, the UK-based developer of the evidence-based mental health game for teens and young adults, eQuoo, has raised £1.5m in seed funding from US-based Morningside Ventures. The funds will enable PsycApps to grow its team and accelerate the development of its mental health platform to address the roughly 50 per cent of teens1 and tweens who self-report struggling with one or more mental health issues.

The funding news follows a recent report from Frontiers in Psychiatry2 that describes low engagement and attrition from digital mental health applications as the field’s Achilles heel. PsycApp’s platform offers an accessible, scalable, and sticky mental health intervention that gives higher education institutions the ability to impact students’ mental health positively.

With over half a million players globally, PsycApps’s goal is to reach every young adult needing an emotional and mental boost in a way that makes it easy for them to stick with the program.

Silja Litvin, PsycApps co-founder and CEO, said, “After working in an NHS priory, I realised that my clients were reaching me way too late - often after six months on a waitlist and years after experiencing the first symptoms. I wanted to find a way to give them the skill set they needed before they needed it.

“If a student drops out of their course due to mental health issues, it will change their lives in a way that hurts them and society. With eQuoo we give young adults a tool that helps them grow mentally, stay mentally healthy and get help if they’re experiencing issues.”

Speaking on the investment, Stephen Bruso, digital health and bioTech partner at Morningside Ventures, commented, “Digital health interventions will be critical in how our society addresses the second, ongoing pandemic of mental health issues. However, designing these interventions to maximize long-term engagement and outcomes will be critical to making a difference.

“Silja and her team have shown robust engagement and outcomes data in large clinical studies, and we are proud to partner with them to bring eQuoo to people in need everywhere.”

Silja Litvin added, ‘We are excited to work with the Morningside team, who have a great track record. From our first meeting, it became clear that they share our passion for addressing this global mental health issue and, especially, the negative impact it is having on the results of those still in school. Morningside’s focus on health, tech, and social responsibility investing fits PsycApps perfectly.’

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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