The Covid-19 pandemic transformed conversations on public health not just for physical health but also for mental health. The conversations were especially spearheaded at the workplace, because not only does the average adult spend one-third of their lives working, but 15% of working adults worldwide are struggling with a mental health disorder at any given time.
This worrying statistic has underscored the need for Employee Assistance Programmes, but such programmes remain relatively new in Asia. This is what Naluri, a digital employee healthcare provider based in Malaysia, is trying to do: to make Employee Assistance Programmes a more established practice. In August last year, it raised $5 million in a Series B funding round to accelerate its expansion into Southeast Asia, starting with Vietnam and the Philippines. The company has raised a total of $19.9 million in six funding rounds from 21 investors. Its founders later recalled that it took Naluri three years and 57 investor meetings to close its Series B funding round.
Some of Naluri’s investors include TELUS Global Ventures, M Venture Partners, and Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia. TELUS Global Ventures has also signed a commercial partnership with Naluri to serve Employee Assistance Programmes across eight regional markets.
The company has also collaborated with IOI Corporation Berhad, which launched an employee wellness initiative called “IOI Cares” in partnership with Naluri, and a global partnership with Prudential. Some of Naluri’s corporate clients include Petronas, Mitsubishi Motors, Malaysian Airlines, Prudential, and Kraft Heinz, among others. Some sectors that Naluri is in include banking, insurance, technology, telecommunications, and business process outsourcing.
A Startup Born of Intuition
Naluri was founded in 2017 by Dr Jeremy Ting, an Oxford and Harvard graduate, and Azran Osman-Rani, a graduate of Stanford University, to deliver technology-driven health programmes. The company’s name is derived from the Bahasa Malaysian word for “intuition” or “instinct”. According to the founders, the company’s name reflects its philosophy of aligning health interventions with each individual’s natural motivations and behaviours. Dr Jeremy and Azran wanted to combine professional coaching and clinical expertise to support mental health, chronic disease management, and overall wellbeing.
In 2021, the company raised $5 million in Series A funding. This was also the round when Hong Kong-based Sumitomo Corporation joined as an investor. With the new investment, the company launched its services in the Philippines and Thailand. It received a second tranche of Series A funding in June 2022, led by Pruksa Group, Thailand’s leading real estate and digital health group, with co-investors including Bertelsmann Investments, INP Capital, M Venture Partners, and others.
The Science Behind the Screen
Naluri has also built up its technology and data science capabilities to enhance its predictive algorithms, incorporating advancements in linguistic analysis and psychiatric screening tools, as well as integrated biometric hardware and continuous clinical oversight. The company assigns human-led and AI-augmented digital health coaching by personal health experts to users battling or at risk of chronic conditions.
Along with mental health services, Naluri also provides support for cardiometabolic and cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. The users of the Naluri app are connected to a multidisciplinary team of dietitians, psychologists, executive coaches, holistic health coaches, fitness coaches, financial planners, and pharmacists. In addition to predicting, preventing, and managing ailments, it also provides health screenings, coaching and 24/7 crisis support for employees.
Naluri currently has 270 employees. The company has stated its goal of reaching the one-million-lives-covered milestone, with funds from the most recent raise earmarked for working capital as it targets profitability in 2026, as Azran said during the Series B fundraise. Naluri competes with telehealth kiosks in Malaysia, which are increasingly seen as an innovative solution for improving employee well-being. The concept was introduced in 2022 by another startup, QMed Asia, and serves as a ‘mini clinic’ for remote online consultations with licensed general practitioners.
The Rivals in the Room
Another startup, H2U, which is a Taiwanese corporate health solutions provider, is foraying into South Korea after receiving an undisclosed investment from Seoul Clinical Laboratories (SCL) Group in 2023. Its international expansion has been backed by Taiwanese contract chipmaker Foxconn.
The landscape in which Naluri operates is defined by a profound gap in care, as nearly 50% of the Southeast Asian workforce is estimated to face elevated mental health risks. These unaddressed psychological and chronic issues often impose substantial economic burdens on companies through absenteeism and diminished productivity. By leveraging a data-driven, technology-integrated methodology, the firm has established itself as a prominent force in the burgeoning digital healthcare and employee wellness sectors across the region.
At a Glance
Founded: 2017
Founders: Azran Osman-Rani and Dr Jeremy Ting
Headquarter: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Total Funding: $19.9 million
Industry: Digital Health and Employee Wellbeing Provider
