[Funding alert] Pune-based sexual and mental wellness app for teens ThatMate raises $140K in angel round

Pune-based sexual and mental wellness app for teens ThatMate recently raised $140,000 in angel funding from Rebalance Angel Community and a clutch of angels.

In fact, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) also invested in the startup as part of its TIDE 2.0 scheme.

Angels who participated in this round  included Premanshu Singh (CEO, Paytm Insurance), Devendra Rane (SVP - Technology and Engineering, Paytm), Kanti Prabha (Co-founder and COO, Sirion Labs), Devadatta Sahoo (Co-founder, NetTantra Technology), Vivek Lodha (CEO, JVS Foods), Shruti Lakkaraju, Ashish Tickoo, Yash Gupta, Aditya Singh, and AIC Banasthali and its angels Krishna Mehra, Supriya Kumari, and Mamta Nehra.

Speaking on the investment, Madhavi Jadhav, Co-founder and CEO, ThatMate, said,

“Growing up, I went through a range of challenges, both personal and social. Life would’ve been easier if I had someone to talk to without hesitation or triggering shame. We’re creating a safe space for teens designed to educate and support teens through self-discovery specific to their location, age, and culture. In fact, joining Rebalance Accelerator helped us reimagine the scale and impact of the problem we were solving offline, which pushed us to launch the app.”

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Launched in 2020 by Madhavi Jadhav and Nishant Neeraj, ThatMate is bridging the gap in the sexual and mental health space for teens globally. It helps them make informed choices as they grow up.

ThatMate's Android app acts as a friend that hears teens out and guides them through puberty, relationships, self-image concerns, peer pressure, and stress, among others.

ThatMate participated in Rebalance Accelerator’s Inaugural Cohort in 2019, founded by Vikas Kumar and Aishwarya Malhi.

“There are a few existing apps that tackle sexual and mental wellness, but none particularly focus on adolescents. With over 1.2 billion teens worldwide, the opportunity to shape young girls and boys beyond academics is huge! What we loved about ThatMate was that they’re choosing to prevent impending issues right from the onset rather than just offer remedies,” added Aishwarya Malhi and Vikas Kumar, Co-founders, Rebalance.

Since its launch in October 2020, ThatMate claims to have gained significant momentum across India. The startup has also partnered with the Jharkhand government and UNICEF to help six lakh students in the state.

Its AI-powered interactive bot Bolo answers all the questions teens cannot ask anyone.

“The app thoughtfully imparts knowledge through interactive comic books, gamified user journeys, knowledge quizzes, and age-appropriate unlocks based on the user’s behavioural insights,” said Nishant Neeraj, Co-founder and CTO, ThatMate.

“The pandemic is going to have a disproportionate impact on the mental and sexual wellbeing of teenagers. Young girls and boys are already feeling the impact of not being able to socialise with their friends/schoolmates and expressing it as frustration, depression, and irritability. ThatMate to me is an amalgamation of a fast-growing market, a determined team, and a great product,” said Premanshu Singh, CEO, Paytm Insurance.