Stress and burnout affect nearly one-third of Europeans workers, yet the wait for mental health services can take months. Amsterdam-based startup OpenUp offers a subscription-based digital mental health platform for employees and their families to supplement conventional mental health care.
B2B-focused VC Smartfin and previous investor Rubio Impact Ventures invested €20 million ($23 million) in OpenUp, including to pursue acquisitions in the fragmented mental health market.
“We saw a team with a clear answer to a persistent problem: anyone in Europe who needs mental health support waits months,” said Rubio’s Ilonka Jankovich. “We are delighted to contribute to the next step: establishing OpenUp as the European standard for workplace mental health support.”
Tech and touch
OpenUp was founded in 2019 by psychologist Gijs Coppens and Floris Rost van Tonningen, co-founder of Dutch social networking site Hyves. Coppens founded another mental health platform iPractice, which was acquired last year by Netherlands-based PE firm Smile Invest.
The fresh funding follows a €15 million raise in 2022, from Rubio, Achmea Innovation Fund, and other angel investors. “Rubio’s ‘people’ investment thesis is to empower people, and in this case, to improve their mental wellbeing,” Jankovich told ImpactAlpha. “We strongly believe in a combination of tech and touch.”
OpenUp serves more than 1.5 million people in over 2,000 companies including Rabobank, KPMG, Oatly and Décathlon, which offer OpenUp as an employee benefit.
