Mental Health Startup Riliv Books Initial Funding Led by East Ventures

Mental health startup Riliv has announced that it has secured seed round funding led by East Ventures. Telkom Indonesia is also mentioned as participating in it. However, the amount of funding was not stated.

No mention of the amount of investment given, a number of investors took part in this round including Benson Capital, Sankalpa Ventures, Teja Ventures, Telkom Indonesia through the Indigo acceleration program, and angel investor Shweta Shrivastava.

The fresh funds will be used to expand Riliv’s mental health services to wider sectors, such as the general public who need integrated health services, as well as industries that are specific to providing access to mental health workers for employees.

There was an increase in Riliv users by almost 400% during the pandemic both from workers and general users such as students and housewives.

“Most of them have problems with feelings of anxiety and insecurity regarding their current condition,” said Riliv Co-Founder & CEO Audrey Maximillian Herli.

Audrey further said, “The presence of online counseling and integrated mindfulness content from Riliv can introduce mental health as a natural need for Gen Y, Z, and Alpha in Indonesia’s current demographic bonus. We open the door for all parties to work together to tackle mental health together.”

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 rest.

In addition, Riliv also offers Employee Assistance Program services, namely Riliv for Company which reaches companies to obtain counseling services and wellness programs for employees. COVID-19 has further increased public awareness of the importance of mental health.

“Riliv’s services are becoming increasingly relevant to today’s market needs 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,” said East Ventures Co-Founder & Managing Partner Willson Weather.

Founded to Help Communities with Mental Health Problems

Maxi founded Riliv with Audy Christopher Herli. Maxi is an alumni of YSEALI 2017, while Audy is the recipient of the 2018 Australia Awards Scholarship.

They founded Riliv in 2015. The goal is to build community resilience in dealing with psychological problems and to build cooperation for a mental health-friendly environment, such as in the fields of work and education.

Through the Riliv platform, users can take advantage of self-help such as meditation, journalling, and sleepcasts to help them rest. In addition, Riliv offers an Employee Assistance Program service, namely Riliv for Company.

Riliv for Company reaches out to companies for counseling services and wellness programs for employees. Maxi and Audy were also included in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2020.

Co-Founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures Willson Weather said, the Covid-19 pandemic has increasingly increased public awareness of the importance of mental health. 

According to him, Riliv’s services are becoming increasingly relevant to today’s market needs. “We believe Riliv can help Indonesians gain easy access to mental health services,” he said.

Mental Health-Related Services Have Sprung Up

Mental health issues have become a popular topic lately. 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. Seeing this opportunity, a number of startups have come up with various forms of mental health services.

Some players who are similar to Riliv are Kalbu, Kalm, Bicarakan.id, to Halodoc, who have also rolled out mental health service packages in their telemedicine ecosystem.