German healthtech startup Sympatient picks up €7.5M to help people with anxiety disorders 

Hamburg, Germany-based Sympatient, a digital health startup, announced on Thursday that it has secured €7.5M in a Series A round of funding led by Verve Ventures. Existing investors, two new angel investors, and former healthcare executives also participated in the round.

Sympatient says it will use the funds to expand its offering into a ‘Digital Anxiety Clinic,’ a comprehensive digital treatment for anxiety disorders.

“We are grateful for the trust our investors have placed in us with this round of financing,” says Christian Angern, co-founder and CEO of Sympatient.

Treats Anxiety disorder

A report from The Lancet reveals that around 370M people globally are affected by anxiety disorders annually. It means that anxiety and panic disorders occur more frequently than depression, adds the report.

In Germany, anxiety disorder accounts for the largest proportion of mental illnesses, at more than 15 per cent. Yet, the average waiting time for a therapy place in Germany is around five months. 

Prof. Dr. Peter Zwanzger, anxiety expert, medical director of the kbo-Inn-Salzach-Klinikum, and member of the medical advisory board of Sympatient GmbH, says, “The number of anxiety disorders requiring treatment in Germany is quite high – inquiries regarding specific

therapy has been steadily increasing for years. Since the outbreak of the corona pandemic, these have increased by another 25 percent. However, only a small number of those affected can be offered therapy in good time, partly because there are not enough therapists

licensed by health insurance funds, for example. Therefore, we urgently need new solutions to eliminate these bottlenecks. Approaches like Sympatient’s, which combine digital technology and personal treatment, hold great potential for the future.”

Sympatient aim to address this demand through the Digital Anxiety Clinic.

The Digital Anxiety Clinic will offer a wide range of therapies tailored to each patient’s needs, either digitally, classically, or hybrid. Additionally, the company claims that a digital aftercare programme is already being tested in studies. 

Sympatient: What you need to know

Founded in 2017 by Christian Angern, Julian Angern, and Benedikt Reinke, Sympatient was born out of a scientific study at UKSH (University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein). In 2020, the company launched Invirto, a digital psychotherapy programme for anxiety disorders for home use. 

Sympatient says that digital psychotherapy with Invirto is approved as a Digital Health Application (DiGA) and can therefore be prescribed by doctors and psychotherapists. 

“In the past two years, we have been able to help several thousand patients with anxiety disorders – that’s more than many clinics treat in a comparable period. By establishing a Digital Anxiety Clinic, we now want to expand our specialisation and cover the entire treatment pathway for anxiety disorders – from diagnosis to therapy and aftercare,” adds Angern.