German AI healthtech startup clare&me has announced a €3.7 million funding round led by Munich-based HealthTech investor YZR and includes the participation of new investors such as Kodori Ventures and Material Ventures, as well as participation of existing angels and Antler.
clare&me has also secured grant funding from the IBB (Development Bank of Berlin), European funds and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to continue technical research and develop the world’s first CLLM (Clinical Large Language Model), which would be trained by psychotherapists.
clare&me was founded in June 2021 by the two founders Celina Messner and Emilia Theye in order to create a low-threshold offer in the therapeutic self-help market using the interaction of technology and conversations. 1,5 years before the ChatGPT hype, the founders started thinking about conversational AI and the relationship levels between users and AI: How does a user talk to an AI about mental health, how human does such a bot have to be? And how do you build an AI in a clinical setting from a technologically correct point of view?
The result is the Mental Health AI, Clare. Clare provides digital psychotherapeutic support via voice-based conversations on smartphones with therapeutic content on topics such as fear, stress and panic. In this way, clare&me wants to solve the problem of high entry barriers, waiting times and stigma and defines the boundaries between human x AI conversation as a thought leader – in a conscious, ethical and well-founded approach.
Emilia Theye, CEO & co-founder of clare&me, commented: “Over three years ago we had a vision that was critically questioned for a long time – it’s hard to believe that the same vision is now a no-brainer for so many and that we have received so much great support along the way. With this funding, we continue to focus on building clinical AI that is based on the latest research and ethical foundations and has lasting psychological impact.”
Celina Messner, CEO & co-founder of clare&me, added: “I am proud of what we have achieved with our team. Reimagining technology in a field like mental health is not only fun but also hard work. The research funds are a seal of our technical quality and show how great our pioneering work is in the field.”
The capital raised will be invested in the further development of the technology, especially in training an empathic CLLM (Clinical LLM), as well as the expansion of a second product for the automation of clinical anamnesis interviews in order to increase collaboration with clinics and thus the trust of end users expand.
Markus Feuerecker, Founding Partner at YZR Capital, said: “We have been impressed since day 1 by Emilia and Celina’s vision and what they have achieved in such a short time. At a time when there were still many dissenting voices, we all agreed: it can be done!” It’s a lot of fun to watch the team convert their thoughts into strong learnings, approach the topic with a medical mindset and act as role models for many. We strongly believe in clare&me’s vision and are pleased to continue to support the team and lead this round after our initial investment in 2021.”
Christoph Klink, Partner at Antler, commented: “Emilia and Celina really excited us as a founding team when we first invested and still do today. They are building world-class AI technology to address a major health and social challenge about which they care deeply. They are uniquely placed to build a product which is already helping to improve the lives of people across Europe and we are delighted to have supported them since day zero.”
