Mental Health Startup Riliv to Secure Seed Funding Led by East Ventures

The mental health startup, Riliv, has secured seed round funding led by East Ventures. The total amount is still undisclosed, participated in this round several investors, including Benson Capital, Sankalpa Ventures, Teja Ventures, Telkom Indonesia through the Indigo acceleration program, and angel investor Shweta Shrivastava.

The fresh money will be used to expand Riliv's mental health services to wider sectors, including the general publicin need of integrated health services, as well as specific industries providing access to mental health workers for employees.

“Riliv users experience a significant increase by nearly 400% during the pandemic, both from workers and common users, including students and housewives. Most of them have problems with feelings of anxiety and insecurity regarding the current condition,” Riliv's Co-Founder & CEO, Audrey Maximillian Herli.

He also said, “The presence of Riliv's online counseling and integrated mindfulness content can introduce mental health as a common need for Gen Y, Z, and Alpha in Indonesia's current demographic bonus. We open the door for all levels to work together to tackle mental health.”

Along with its development, Riliv continues to grow to provide online psychologist counseling services through an application. Users can take advantage of self-help such as meditation, journalling, and also sleepcasts to help them rest. In addition, Riliv also offers Employee Assistance Program services, Riliv for Company, for company's counseling services and wellness programs for employees.

“COVID-19 is increasing public awareness of the importance of mental health. Riliv's services are becoming increasingly relevant to today's market and we believe Riliv can help Indonesians to gain easy access to mental health services. We are pleased to be able to support Maxi and Audy to advance the mental health industry in Indonesia," East Ventures' Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Willson Cuaca.

Mental health-related services are rising

Recently, mental health issues have become a popular topic. The 2018 Basic Health Research conducted by the Ministry of Health shows that more than 21 million Indonesians experience emotional psychological problems and depression. Research in 2020 also showed that mental disorders almost doubled during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Regarding this opportunity, several startups have come up with various forms of mental health services. Some players are offering similar services, including Kalbu, Kalm, Talk.id, to Halodoc, who have also rolled out mental health service packages in their telemedicine ecosystem.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian