Singapore mental healthcare startup Safe Space bags $250k in seed round

Safe Space, a digital mental healthcare provider, announced that it has raised US$250,000 in a seed round through FundedHere, a crowdfunding platform licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The round was led by Andy Lim, founder of private equity fund manager Tembusu Partners.

Safe Space CEO and co-founder Antoinette Renee Patterson / Source: Safe Space

Established in March 2019, the startup helps people get remote counseling services over video call and face-to-face sessions through a mental health ecosystem that provides talk therapy and preventive education among other services.

Safe Space claims to have tripled its user base since their launch in March 2019 and connected more than 1,500 individuals to psychologists, psychotherapists, and counselors to promote mental well-being.

According to a report, a suicide prevention center in Singapore witnessed a 36% surge in the volume of calls in April to June due to stay-at-home restrictions imposed in the country as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the investment, Safe Space looks to expand its business across the Asia-Pacific region and scale its new freemium corporate program globally by 2021.

“Safe Space’s vision is to make digital mental healthcare and education accessible and comprehensive to businesses of all sizes,” said co-founder and CEO Antoinette Renee Patterson. The company has built comprehensive tools to cope with the impact of Covid-19 on mental health, among other challenges.

See also: This app wants to make therapy more accessible in virus-hit Southeast Asia

The funding comes at a time when the global market for behavioral and mental health software is projected to grow to US$2.3 billion by 2022, according to research firm Markets and Markets.

Safe Space previously raised a total of S$150,000 (US$111,634) in a pre-seed round earlier in April from angel investor Bernard Ng as well as the Tote Board and the Health Promotion Board, according to data from Crunchbase.

Currency converted from Singapore dollar to US dollar: US$1 = S$1.34