Chhattisgarh-based mental healthtech startup BetterSpace has raised ₹4.5 Million in its maiden pre-seed funding round led by prominent startup community-builder and accelerator PedalStart. Before this, the startup had remained majorly bootstrapped.

According to a press statement, the company will be utilizing the newly-acquired capital towards improving its existing offline and online services, developing a new product range consisting of games and toolkits, enhancing marketing and brand visibility, optimizing technology and the app for boosting accessibility across multiple types of devices, attracting and acquiring talent, among other strategic areas.

In 2022, BetterSpace was a part of PedalStart’s ‘Zero-to-One’ cohort which is a community-based, outcome-driven programme for supporting early-stage startups.

“In a country like ours where the growing burden of mental health disorders poses a serious concern, it has become imperative to use technology in solving pressing, real-life mental health-related challenges. BetterSpace is committed to doing just, while ensuring quality mental health services delivery in a regional, accessible, and affordable manner to various stakeholders across the society. We at PedalStart have been impressed by BetterSpace founders’ innovative and solution-oriented approach, their commitment to embracing technology, and most importantly, could resonate with their vision of creating and nurturing safe-inclusive spaces through a mix of online and offline initiatives focused on mental health, sexuality and disability awareness. We look forward to extending our continued support to BetterSpace to enable them to create positive social impact at scale,” Manas Pal, Co-founder, PedalStart said.

BetterSpace provides its psychologist-led counselling, workshops, and community engagement programs, and other initiatives aimed at solving numerous existing mental health challenges in the society.

The startup’s standout value proposition lies in its ability to deliver content, therapy, and other strategic interventions in multiple vernacular languages, allowing them to resonate with local audiences, it claimed.

Since its inception, the startup has to date facilitated more than 5000 offline sessions across schools, hospitals, community centers, corporate offices, et al, positively impacting the lives of more than 2 lakh people (including both children and adults) pan-India.

Additionally, BetterSpace has already developed its mobile app, and other self-paced products and toolkits for enabling the betterment of mental health and fueling personal growth.

The company is also planning to launch few more innovative tech-enabled mental wellness solutions, such Imagi box which is a therapy box for children having learning and cognitive difficulties, Therapy Pods dedicated rooms in hospitals to solve the privacy issues for individuals when availing therapy, and a mental wellness game for families.

Furthermore, they have ambitious plans to grow rapidly and expand operational footprints to at least 10+ Indian states and internationally in the next one year, it stated.