Addressing Mental Health at Work with Kyan Health

When businessman Vlad Gheorghiu started having anxiety attacks and panic attacks at work, he was lucky enough to be able to find mental health support through a family relationship. When she shared her story with friends and colleagues, she quickly realized that many people had similar problems due to stress at work; moreover, although some employers were supportive, few did anything to solve the problems that caused the problems.

That experience was the inspiration for Kyan Health, the Zurich-based startup that Gheorghiu founded with his colleagues Konstantin Struck and Ignacio Leonhardt in 2021. Today, the company announces a successful $12.7 million Series A round which takes the total amount of money. raised by the company to $ 18.5 million.

“Many organizations now talk a lot about mental health and well-being, but most of them don’t do enough to make their workplaces safer,” Gheorghiu explains. “We’ve done a good job of protecting people’s physical health through health and safety improvements, but we haven’t dealt with mental health in the same way.”

Kyan Health aims to meet the challenge head-on, selling its technology-driven solutions to a growing number of businesses.

Every time it gets a new customer, the organization’s employees are asked to fill out a confidential questionnaire, sharing their thoughts on what they like and don’t like, what causes them stress and what worries them. he saw what he is now. The questions can be used to direct individual employees to help and support, if that is what is needed, but more importantly, the answers also enable Kyan Health to assess the risk in the organization. It may be that people in certain jobs or sectors feel a lot of anxiety, for example. Certain policies and procedures may be causing stress. There may be cultural or behavioral issues that cause tension.

Using this analysis Kyan Health is able to make recommendations to the organization on how to eliminate these problems – how, effectively, to make its workplace safer. Perhaps some managers need more guidance on how to communicate more openly. Perhaps certain methods need to be reconsidered. The company can also offer appropriate solutions – training courses, for example – to turn its proposals into reality.

The aim is to ensure that workers have access to help when they need it but also that the risk of workers having other problems in the future is reduced. Gheorghiu says: “When I was struggling, I saw with my own eyes how the tools were lacking to solve real problems. “This is about changing that – creating the tools that I wish were there, making mental health measurable, and empowering organizations to act before a crisis happens.” arrive.”

Kyan Health’s new approach to mental health has already seen it pick up a high-profile clientele. They include large corporations such as Hitachi Energy, Deutsche Börse Group and Hilti, but also small and large companies such as On, Kuoni Tumlare and Board International, which aim to build good practices in mental health and health in their businesses. in the early stages of development.

Kyan Health’s business model is built on subscriptions, with organizations signing up to use its platform regularly. Gheorghiu believes that the returns on investment that the company can offer are huge, given the scope to drive greater productivity by reducing absenteeism and improving visibility, and enhancing retention. workers if mental health problems can be reduced.

Some customers are already seeing those benefits. For example, the Swiss gaming company On, estimates that the Kyan Health program has provided an annual return on investment of 11.6% per year over the past two years, which is equivalent to $2.9 million in value. – so far, about 50% of 2,500 of the business. or employees are involved in the program.

Hitachi Energy, a business that employs 40,000 people, also reported impressive results. “Kyan is the only service provider that supports the organizational and individual level at the same time,” says Achim Braun, chief human resources officer.

Such success has supported a series of financing for Kyan Health, starting with the first $1.7 million in seed funding led by Wingman Ventures in 2021, and later led by Amplo Ventures in 2022. via Swisscom Ventures via participation by GreyMatter Capital, naturalX Health Ventures, Founderful, Joyance Partners and several angel investors.

Victoria Lietha, investment director at Swisscom Ventures, says: “Kyan Health is changing the way businesses support mental health and wellness by providing proactive, scalable solutions that address needs. of global business.”

The company intends to use the proceeds from the Series A to support the development of other products. In particular, Gheorghiu is keen to improve Kyan Health’s predictive capabilities, so that the company can use more data to alert its corporate clients to future issues they may face. in the past. “We can use our insight to make sure these issues are addressed before they cause problems,” he says.