L to R - Sançar Sahin (co-founder and CMO), Dr Sarah (Clinical Officer), and Javier Suarez (co-founder and CEO)

Oliva, a healthtech platform offering specialist, on-demand mental health and wellbeing support to employees, has announced a €5 million fundraise in a round led by Molten Ventures and joined by existing investors Stride VC and new backers Alumni Ventures. Angels including Kieran Flanagan, CMO at Zapier, also participated.

The raise follows a year where Oliva doubled the size of its team, increased its network of therapists from 50 to over 250, and grew revenues by over 300% year-on-year. The funding will enable Oliva to expand its network of skilled therapists, launch in new markets and languages, develop their pioneering ‘Oliva Care Model’, and leverage AI to enhance their human-to-human online care journeys. These advancements will enable more staff around the world to access bespoke, human-led mental health expertise.

Founded in 2020 by Javier Suarez, previously co-founder of TravelPerk, and Sançar Sahin, previously VP Marketing of Hotjar and Typeform, Oliva partners with employers to improve workplace cultures and ensure their teams can access mental health and wellbeing support suited to their individual needs.

Both Javier and his co-founder Sançar experienced mental health struggles and burnout whilst leading teams at high-growth startups. This first-hand experience inspired them to create a platform that would provide best-in-class support for individuals, as well as the partnership, insights and guidance needed for companies intent on strengthening company culture.

Oliva works closely with employers to create and launch successful strategies to improve workplace wellbeing, they are able to improve staff happiness and retention, as well as increase productivity.

For individual team members, the platform unlocks a wide-array of evidence-based psychological intervention; from on-demand therapy and coaching, to group workshops, personalised self-guided content and exclusive talks. Over 12 types of therapies are available via the platform, designed to provide the proactive and reactive support needed to help people tackle issues such anxiety, burnout or depression.

This raise brings Oliva’s total funding to €13m ($14m/£11m) to date. Oliva will join companies including Revolut and Trustpilot in the Molten Ventures portfolio.

Oliva is already used in over 27 countries worldwide and is currently available in 14 languages, with existing customers including Marshmallow, Maze and Leapsome. This funding will enable expansion into new markets, including more US states, and the introduction of new languages including Croatian, Serbian and Dutch.

The latest investment will also enable Oliva to further expand its network of 250 specialist therapists, and double down on the evolution of their in-house Oliva Care Model. Led by the platform’s Chief Clinical Officer and leading cognitive behavioural therapist, Dr. Sarah Bateup, this model enables users to be guided towards a bespoke package of human-led intervention or support for their individual needs, with that route able to dynamically adapt based on outcomes.

The funding will also be used to launch an Oliva app - enabling users to access support wherever they are - and build out additional product features to improve the user experience for staff, HR teams, and practitioners alike. This will include incorporating AI functionality to enhance their human-led service, such as automating note taking so therapists can focus on care.

Javier Suarez, co-founder and CEO of Oliva, comments: "From the very beginning, our vision for Oliva has been clear: to be Europe’s most comprehensive and clinically validated workplace mental health platform. Companies working with Oliva get more than a platform - they 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.

“We're grateful for the trust and support our investors have shown us so far, allowing us to continue making strides, and look forward to accelerating that with our new and existing investors.”

Dr Inga Deakin, Principal at Molten Ventures, added: “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. Molten are proud to back the team at Oliva. They 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.