Düsseldorf-based start-up 'Elona Health' secures pre-seed funding

Düsseldorf-based start-up 'Elona Health' secures pre-seed funding

To sustainably improve psychotherapeutic care and optimise the therapy experience for patients and practitioners alike. The digital health start-up Elona Health has now received its first investment for this mission.

The financing round is led by COYO founder Jan Marius Marquardt, who, together with other prominent business angels and NRW.Bank, is providing a high six-figure sum.

Elona Health is another startup entering the mental health market. The 20-strong team around managing directors Alexander Braden and Magnus Schückes focuses on supporting and accompanying patients and practitioners in outpatient psychotherapy. "Psychotherapy thrives on empathy and human interaction. We cannot and do not want to replace either of these," explains Alexander Braden, "but in therapy itself there are countless possibilities for an improved process and more sustainable results. Few disciplines in the healthcare system have such an unsatisfactory Patient Journey as psychotherapy - to the chagrin of patient:s and practitioner:s alike." According to studies, relapse rates in psychotherapy are still high despite effective treatment. According to the German Depression Aid, 70% of all patients relapse after completing acute treatment.

Elona Health was founded in spring 2021 and addresses patients in outpatient care who suffer from depression, anxiety or panic disorders with its two-sided digital health application. The CE-marked medical device helps patients to independently transfer the contents of the therapeutic sessions into everyday life and intensifies the therapy without losing the connection to their own therapist. At the same time, elona therapy offers patients the option of sharing valuable insights with their psychotherapist in order to strengthen the therapy sessions themselves and customize the app experience. In addition to a health app for patients, the platform also includes a digital solution for therapists, which will be expanded into a fully comprehensive practice system. Other disorders are also to be added in the future: next year, the startup plans to be able to accompany 95% of all patients in outpatient behavioral therapy with its solutions.

The team was also able to secure the support of the well-known psychotherapist Dr. Peter Neudeck. "We want to shape the psychotherapy of tomorrow. This includes not only an increase in the range of services offered, but above all an improvement in the existing range. There is still enormous potential slumbering in psychotherapy. We want to raise that," sums up Magnus Schückes. The founding team is convinced of this, as is the Robert Enke Foundation, which is supporting an initial study by Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf in cooperation with the young company.