London-based Thymia, a health tech startup, announced that it has raised $2.7m (€2.4m) in a seed funding round led by Kodori Ventures.
The round saw participation from existing and new investors, including Syndicate Room’s Access, Entrepreneur First, Form Ventures, and Calm/Storm.
Thymia also has garnered support from angel investors Amanda M Cardinale and Nadav Rosenberg.
Thymia also allows people to participate in the funding round through a Crowdcube community fundraising initiative.
The company says that the raised funds will help it to expand the technology in the clinical field by obtaining medical device approval. It will also be used to improve the AI infrastructure that supports the Thymia platform and to develop a tool to detect ADHD symptoms.
A revolutionary technology
Thymia co-founder and CEO, Dr Emilia Molimpakis, says the company’s mission is to “make mental health assessments faster, more objective and more reliable”.
She understands the complexity of mental health conditions firsthand, having witnessed the limitations of existing assessment methods when her best friend struggled with such issues.
“As a result, too many people go mis– or undiagnosed; or spiral before anyone realises it’s happening,” she says.
“Our technology is revolutionary,” Molimpakis says. According to her, through the integration of “cutting-edge neuroscience and ethical,” transparent AI, the company has developed a tool that can expedite “accurate diagnoses” and “effective treatment plans like never before”.
“We’re so grateful for the support our investors have shown us so far,” Molimpakis says, commenting about the recent funding.
“We look forward to this next stage of our journey as we look to optimise and expand our technology and get it in the hands of the people who need it most,” she says.
Kodori Ventures VP Alexander Kuznetsov believes mental healthcare is among the most critical global challenges. He also highlights the need for smarter and more innovative approaches to diagnosing and treating people dealing with mental health conditions.
“Kodori Ventures is proud to be backing the team at Thymia in their pioneering mental health work,” Kuznetsov says.
He also mentions that Thymia has expanded to four continents and become a significant global force in mental health care, deserving “recognition and attention”.
“I’m excited to see the impact of their work in the way we diagnose and understand mental health,” says Kuznetsov.
Thymia’s AI-powered platform
The mental health-tech startup was founded in 2020 by neuroscientist Molimpakis and theoretical physicist Dr Stefano Goria. Its platform employs AI technology inspired by video games to improve diagnosing and monitoring mental health conditions.
People use the technology in various settings, such as mental health, wellness and corporate environments, to detect early indicators of mental wellness, such as stress, burnout and fatigue.
Instead of relying on subjective questionnaires, patients use specially designed video games. These video games employ neuropsychology, linguistics and machine learning to detect signs of mental illness and track treatment progress over time.
The platform features games that require users to complete tasks like describing animated scenes and remembering moving objects (such as bees). While the user is playing these games, the Thymia software anonymously analyses three key data streams.
One of the data streams that the software analyses is the users’ voice. The software examines the acoustic and linguistic cues in the user’s voice to gain insights into their mental state and communication style.
Another data stream that the Thymia software analyses is the users’ videos. The software tracks micro-expressions, movement and eye-gaze to help identify the user’s current mood.
The last data stream the software examines consists of behavioural measures such as tapping, reaction times and error rates. These measures can aid in determining the severity of mental health issues and track treatment progress.
The software also allows clinicians to monitor patients over time and between appointments remotely.
