thymia Raises $2.7M in Seed Funding
Summary
Co-founded by Gabrielle Powell, Emilia Molimpakis and Stefano Goria in 2020, thymia is a mental healthtech startup whose platform uses video game-inspired AI technology to diagnose and track mental health conditions. Instead of answering subjective questionnaires, patients play specially-designed video games on the platform which use neuropsychology, linguistics and machine learning to detect signs of mental illness as well as monitor whether patients are responding to treatment over time. The games include verbally describing animated scenes and memorising moving objects like bees. While users complete the games, the software anonymously analyses three key data streams: • Voice: both how someone speaks and what they are saying (to pick up acoustic and linguistic cues) • Video: micro-expressions, movement and eye-gaze (which can help track current mood) • Behavioural measures, including tapping, reaction times and error rates (which can help detect the severity of mental health problems and measure treatment response) The software identifies data patterns indicative of mental health symptoms to help clinicians pinpoint a diagnosis more quickly and accurately. thymia is collaborating with several academic institutions, including King’s College London, University College London and Oxford University; and is one of twelve startups selected for AWS’s Healthcare Accelerator.