A psychological health app for males co-founded by Bear Grylls, the British adventurer, has raised £2.5m in seed funding from backers together with enterprise capital funds and distinguished angel buyers.
Sky News understands that Mettle, which launched earlier this week, has secured monetary backing that can help help a sizeable advertising and marketing marketing campaign through the coming weeks.
The app has been launched by Neil Smith, a former tv producer, and consists of the backing of Dr Alex George, a authorities psychological well being ambassador.
Mettle goals to handle a major hole out there for the supply of psychological well being providers, with just about no platforms devoted to supporting males in tackling what stays one among society’s most closely stigmatized points.
It offers a psychological well being toolkit, giving customers help with meditation, mind-hacking breath-work and hypnosis.
The app was collectively designed by Imperial College London, and consists of content material from high-profile figures together with Paul McKenna.
Among the angels investing in Mettle’s seed spherical are Dan Cobley, the previous boss of Google within the UK and Ireland, and Daniel Macklin, co-founder of SoFi, the fintech.
The funding was raised at a £10m pre-money valuation, and is predicted to be adopted by a bigger Series A spherical subsequent yr.
Mr Grylls stated: “However sturdy we’d assume we’re, life will repeatedly throw us powerful challenges and emotional curve-balls.
“I believe that the pressures and struggles men encounter nowadays are greater than ever, but there are effective ways to thrive if you have the right support and tools at your disposal.
“We all want assist in turning into the very best model of ourselves however it may be actually laborious to know the place to begin – I see lots of people wrestle with alternative paralysis.
“Mettle is completely outcome focussed – it is designed to guide and provide men with the ability to build up their mental resilience, to deal well with change and to thrive in complex life situations.”
Other buyers within the spherical embody Elbow Beach Capital, a enterprise capital agency which generally backs start-ups targeted on decarbonisation and sustainable power.
Mettle is claimed to have drawn curiosity already from giant corporations considering giving its staff entry to the app.
“Over the years, I noticed that a lot of men in my circle looked after their physical health but really neglected their mental wellbeing and the research has clearly demonstrated that this has been echoed in the current mental health crisis amongst men,” Mr Smith stated.
Source: information.sky.com”