Mental Wellness Social Network App Wisdo Closes $11M Seed Round

Tel Aviv-based startup Wisdo raised $11 million in a seed funding round from angel investors, TechChrunch reported.

Wisdo developed an app that helps people connect around shared, sometimes difficult experiences. The app brings people together around themes including identity, sexuality, loss, and physical and mental illness, among others.

Boaz Gaon, CEO of Wisdo, was quoted on TechCrunch as saying: “Wisdo grew out of my own personal experience when my father was diagnosed with cancer – I had no experience with cancer and there was no ‘map’ for what I should do next, no one to give me direction.”

“I also understood that this could not possibly be true: there had to be many millions of people who had lived through this exact situation and who could help guide me – I just needed to find them. This was the seed of Wisdo – connecting people around these experiences, finding the everyday wisdom that we all need, sharing the earned wisdom that we all have, building a map for life’s emotional challenges, and giving people insight into what happens next,” he added.

“Social networks can be a force for good by rewarding empathy and helpfulness, which is why we believe so much in Wisdo’s mission. We want users to not only be open and honest, but move from that to creating human connections, which can improve users’ lives in the long run,” Richard Klausner, an investor in Wisdo and founder of Juno Therapeutics, was quoted as saying.

Wisdo was founded in 2015 by Gaon and Ido Jonathan Engel. Created for people of 17 years of age and over, the app currently has 500,000 beta users, the company says.