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UK-based Oliva has had a stellar year, doubling its team and significantly expanding its network of therapists as well as a surge in revenue.
Molten Ventures has announced its latest investment, this time leading a €5m funding round for employee wellbeing start-up Oliva.
Based in the UK, Oliva has developed a platform that helps employers to improve workplace cultures and ensure their teams can access mental health and wellbeing support suited to their individual needs.
It provides a range of services including on-demand therapy and coaching, group workshops, exclusive talks and other self-guided content. Oliva provides members with 12 types of therapies to support them in tackling anxiety, burnout and depression.
Used in 27 countries and available in 14 languages, Oliva was founded by Javier Suarez and Sançar Sahin in 2020. Suarez previously co-founded travel management start-up TravelPerk while Sahin is the former vice-president of marketing at Hotjar and Typeform.
The company has been growing rapidly over the past year, having doubled the size of its team, increased its network of therapists from 50 to more than 250, and seen revenues grow by more than 300pc year-on-year.
Suarez, who is the CEO, said Oliva’s vision is to be Europe’s most comprehensive and clinically validated workplace mental health platform. Existing customers include Marshmallow, Maze, Learnerbly and Leapsome.
“Companies working with Oliva get … a full-scale partnership for their employee mental health strategy. And for employees, they don’t get short-changed by a system powered by bots. We offer evidence-led, human-centric support strategies that are tailored to their individual needs.”
While led by Molten Ventures, the latest round was also backed by Alumni Ventures and angel investor Kieran Flanagan, chief of marketing at Zapier. This brings funds raised to date to €13m.
The latest investment will help Oliva expand its network of therapists, launch in new markets and languages, and even leverage emerging technologies such as AI to enhance their human-to-human online care services. This will also help the start-up launch an official AI-powered app.
“Poor mental health has a massive impact on employers and wider society. We have an opportunity to expand access to mental health support and early intervention beyond the usual structures of healthcare systems,” said Dr Inga Deakin, principal at Molten.
“[The founders of Oliva] are world-class repeat entrepreneurs and they have the experience and capabilities to tackle challenges around mental health and provide a method to help many people around the world.”
Molten Ventures is one of Europe’s most well-known VC firms, focusing on high-growth tech start-ups. Previously known as Draper Esprit, the firm has backed European unicorns in the past such as Revolut and Aircall.
Last month, it led a £12.7m funding round into Satellite Vu, a climate company working on thermal imaging data, which is preparing to launch its own satellite constellation on a SpaceX mission.
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