Uber's Former Employee Launches a Mental Health App With £3.75M Investment

Uber’s former employee launches a new mental health app to help people with some common mental health problems. According to the recent reports, the app has successfully collected £3.75m fund through seed funding round which was led by Bedrock. The other participants in the funding round were from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Wave Capital.

Andrew Chaplin, who is an ex-Uber employee and the man behind the app came up with a unique idea to help the people. Basis app is the dedicated platform for mental health patients struggling with anxiety, depression or stress. A user can book a session with a professional therapist that would cost $35 for 45 minutes. The user can choose either voice or video session depending upon the preference.

According to Chaplin, this idea strikes to him after leaving Uber in 2016 when he was hit by stress and depression. He also mentioned that the in-person therapy sessions were not that effective as he wanted to talk about his daily life struggles.

Chaplin launched the app with Lindsay Trent (Chief Science Officer), who is also a doctor after Chaplin himself went through the anxiety and mental fatigue. Basis offers the help of unlicensed mental health professionals having knowledge and training based on research. This makes possible for the users to book more than one session on the same day. The idea behind the app is to save hundreds of dollars that people spend over in-person therapists sessions.

"After experiencing high levels of stress in previous work environments, I was frustrated with the options for dealing with my day-to-day anxieties,"

says Andrew Chapin.

"While yoga and meditation gave me temporary relief, they didn't help me work through the issues I faced. The idea of seeing a therapist felt too clinical for my situation; I just needed help in dealing with the everyday challenges of being human. While exploring new models for taking care of my mental health, I met Dr. Trent. We realized there was a huge opportunity to provide evidence-based solutions at a drastically lower price point."

The cost of the session with therapists was too expensive for an hour. Using Basis, he wants to deliver the affordable service that people can use anywhere and anytime to get rid of anxiety or depression.

Written By

Manish Content Strategist

With a mixture of literature, cinema, and photography, Manish is mostly traveling. When he is not, he is probably writing another tech news for you!

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