Woebot, developer of an AI-powered therapeutic chatbot for those with mental health issues, has raised US$90m (£65.9m) to further develop its solution.
The Irish-founded start-up said it looks to transform mental health care with its “relational agent”, it is creating a system capable of building trusted relationships with people. It added the technology can plug gaps along the entire health care journey, from symptom monitoring to episode management.
Woebot uses AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to learn from millions of conversations annually and to provide therapeutic encounters that are psychologically related, responsive to a person’s dynamic state of health, and targeted using tools from cognitive, behavioural, and interpersonal disciplines.
It is capable of forming a strong deep relationship with users and delivering human-like therapeutic responses to those experiencing mental health difficulties.
Founder, Alison Darcy, told the Irish Times: “My ultimate hope is that everybody has a Woebot and it is a utility just like email that is tailored to the individual and so builds up a deep knowledge of who they are and provides quality support in the moments when they need it.”
The latest financing, co-led by Jazz Venture Partners and Temasek, brings total investment in the company to US$114m (£83.5m). It will be used not only to accelerate development of its platform but also to increase staff numbers.
Woebot, which has operations in Dublin and San Francisco, intends to double headcount to 100 people over the next two years.
