HONG
KONG SAR – ACCESSWIRE – 16 June 2021 – Global Investment Bank and Capital Trust
announced today a sizeable investment in Asian mental healthcare start-up
PsychAsia. PsychAsia is a Singapore-based mental healthcare application that
offers personalised self-care advice and programmes.
Global Investment Bank
and Capital Trust CEO, Roger Corman, said, “We are incredibly proud to
announce this investment into PsychAsia. Our investment is testimony to the
confidence in the start-up’s performance so far and into the future. We are
ready to offer support in any way we can to make this partnership a
success.”
PsychAsia founder and
CEO Eunice Kwong, said of the investment round, “We are excited that a
leading financial institution such as Global Investment Bank and Capital Trust
has chosen us to invest in. We take this as an affirmation of our business
model and growth potential in this sector.”
The investment was
undertaken by Global Investment Bank and Capital Trust’s venture capital fund,
KHL Ventures, which is co-managed by Global Capital Group (GCG) Asia division.
“We are thrilled
to provide capital support to a sector that is responding to a great need in
the region, especially during post-pandemic times,” said Global Investment
Bank and Capital Trust’s Corman.
Global Investment Bank
and Capital Trust’s venture capital fund invests primarily in healthcare,
health tech and edutech companies in the Asian region. “In total, the Asia
Pacific region is lagging behind North America in terms of funding support for
healthcare startups, although there has been an increase in 2020. We see
ourselves as playing a vital role to provide a much needed capital boost to
this sector,” said Global Investment Bank and Capital Trust’s Corman.
Across the Asia
Pacific region, countries have ramped up investments in the digitization of
healthcare industries and services. Healthcare industries can stand to benefit
from clear government policies that encourage a ramp up in investments through
private-public partnerships, explained Global Investment Bank and Capital
Trust’s Corman.
“While markets
like Singapore are developed, others like China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia
and the Philippines are where we see a huge potential to make an impact due to
growing healthcare spending per capita and healthcare infrastructure expansion,”
added Global Investment Bank and Capital Trust’s Corman.
PsyhAsia’s application
has main functions that offer coaching for people with mental health conditions
like anxiety and depression. It also offers digital content to foster greater
understanding of mental health and structured programmes to combat stress and
anxiety. “We have established trust with our user base based on reviews
and the active logins. Global Investment Bank and Capital Trust’s investment
will be used to scale our platform and invest in our AI-augmented digital
health coaching and help develop our proprietary app-based tools further,”
said CEO Eunice Kwong.
PsyhAsia also plans to
build up its data science capabilities to enhance its natural language
processing for use in depression detection, digital exchange connectivity and
patient monitoring. Clinical research is also currently underway in North
America.
Noting that mental
health is now at the forefront of public awareness, Global Investment Bank and
Capital Trust’s Corman said, “We are encouraged to see an uptick in
interest in capital investments in healthcare technology companies. This is the
right time for companies to take active steps to tackle physical and mental
health holistically. We are delighted to see a three-fold increase in
PsyhAsia’s corporate user base.”
“Apps like
PsyhAsia can help improve stress management and day-to-day emotional guidance
to people across the region who are suffering from the burdens of daily living
under pandemic conditions. I myself use the app and have found it immensely
useful for mindfulness practice,” added Global Investment Bank and Capital
Trust’s Corman.
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