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.