Wamda Capital invests in Salus’ $4.7 million Seed round
Summary
The oversubscribed round was led by Northzone with participation from 500 Emerging Europe, Pitchdrive, and the CVC arm of Bank, Collective Spark alongside angel investors including Frat leri (Hummingbird Ventures), Adam Anders of Anterra Capital, nan\xe7 Balc (Crestone VC & Lazada), Egem Eraslan (Midas) Can Y\xfccaolu (MAP Investment), Mehmet Ylmaz (Freeletics & Zavvy), Joshua Cornelius (Freeletics & Zavvy) and Kvan\xe7 Semen (Dataguard). Founded in 2022 by Alperen Adikti and Din\xe7er Karaduman, Salus is a corporate mental health platform that offers a myriad of services ranging from therapy and coaching sessions to self-care content. The funding round also saw double-down investments from existing investors Collective Spark and Wamda Capital, alongside angel investors including Frat leri (Hummingbird Ventures), Adam Anders (Anterra Capital), nan\xe7 Balc (Crestone VC & Lazada), Egem Eraslan (Midas) Can Y\xfccaolu (MAP Investment), Mehmet Ylmaz (Freeletics & Zavvy), Joshua Cornelius (Freeletics & Zavvy) and Kvan\xe7 Semen (Dataguard).Salus platform stands out as the only comprehensive personalized mental health product in the region, aiming to make preventive health servicesparticularly in mental healthaffordable and accessible. Salus offers a science-backed, measurable approach to persuade employers to invest in their employees mental health, demonstrating a substantial return on investment and enhancing employee well-being at scale.Closing one of the largest seed rounds ever raised by a Turkish startup just 16 months post-founding, amidst a challenging macroeconomic climate, is not just a milestoneits a testament to the urgent need and belief in Salus mission. The platform is also exploring expansion into nutrition and physical health services, with a long-term vision of becoming the sole health app needed in the region, providing an unparalleled user-centric healthcare experience.Founded by two ex-McKinsey consultants with extensive experience in healthcare, insurance, and digital transformations in the EEMA region, Salus boasts a founding team from Turkeys top startups and scale-ups, and maintains a diverse workforce with 42% women.