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Tell me has announced the closing of its pre-seed round for $1.1 million dollars, positioning itself as one of the fastest growing startups in the mental health tech industry in Mexico and Latin America. Founded in 2019 in Mexico, Tell me is closing the existing gap in the inclusion of mental health in organizations.
sicuentame.com
The financing round has been led by Impacta VC and has had the investments of Colectivo Jaguara, 99 Startups, Fondation Botnar & New Ventures, Pareto20 and Investo, as well as multiple angel investors. The next step for Cuéntame is to continue growing its presence in Mexico, Colombia and Chile. According to projections, it is expected to grow to 12 times its current size by the end of 2023.
Until now, the platform has reached 64,000 people in different organizations, including big names like Nestlé and unicorns like Kavak and Bitso. Cuéntame’s impact on these organizations is enormous; on average, staff turnover has decreased by 60% and well-being has increased by 40%.
With this investment round, he hopes to reach one million users in the next 18 months, or as they recently said on their LinkedIn: “We know each other mental health pioneers and we have the firm conviction that discipline together with the infinite curiosity to learn from our users will allow us to fulfill the mission of eliminating barriers to mental health in every corner of Latin America”.
The idea for the initiative was born after Regina Athié and Fernando Chavez, two of the founders, will discuss their personal struggles accessing mental health support. It’s no wonder that being founded just before the pandemic has helped catalyze the growth the company is experiencing today, as the pandemic has been a key moment in terms of mental health awareness.
There is a huge gap in access to mental health support for people, which is especially notable in Latin America and the Caribbean, where on average only 1% to 2% of the health budget of countries goes to mental health initiatives. The Cuéntame platform is helping to show this disparity, as it has reported that 70% of its users are accessing mental health help for the first time in their lives when they join the platform.
Employee well-being has a huge impact on organizations, and its lack can lead to lost productivity, burnout, and absenteeism. In one study, researchers found that workers lose an average of half a day of work per week due to depression. Depression is estimated to cost entrepreneurs between $31,000 and $51,000 million dollars per year in lost productivity. According to the Lancet Commission, by 2030 the global costs of mental health problems will amount to $16 billion dollars.
tell me is a platform powered by humans and technology which focuses on identifying, preventing, and resolving mental health risks. Provide personalized and high-quality resources not only to employees but also to their families. Organizations receive well-being indicators, which summarize the state of the company in terms of the well-being of its employees, pain points and information on how they can improve to be better employers. Cuéntame hopes that, through its platform, organizations can avoid staff turnover due to burnoutimprove engagement, and create a culture of wellness that inspires and motivates people.
One obstacle that Cuéntame must overcome is the stigma that exists throughout Latin America regarding mental health. Traditional Latino culture, in which macho values are common, often means less willingness to seek professional help. There is still a long way to go to reduce the gap in mental health (the difference between the number of people who need care and those who receive it), since the weighted mean of the treatment gap in Latin America for moderate and severe disorders is close to 75%.