Mental health startup Virtual Psychologist wins $72,000 to make counselling accessible: “Could we be the Uber of psychology?”

Gold Coast psychologist turned entrepreneur Dervla Loughnane has secured $72,000 for her startup Virtual Psychologist, in a bid to make it easier for people to seek mental health help in a comfortable and private way.

Founded in 2015, the Virtual Psychologist application connects mental health professionals with users, allowing them to receive on-demand counselling via text message in a service Loughnane refers to as “the Uber of psychology”.

The startup received $72,000 in funding after pitching to a panel of judges as part of the Optus Future Makers program, and was one of four winning startups to share in $300,000 to further develop their and scale their offerings.

Loughnane had previously received $10,000 as part of the four-month Future Makers program to develop her concept before pitching to the judges at the close of the program this month.

This cash injection will be used to invest into training the professionals delivering the counselling services through the app, expanding the startup’s marketing efforts, and scaling the platform, first in Australia and then to New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. Read more

Angela Castles - Smart Company - 20 Oct 2017