Empathy Health Technologies announced it has secured $2.3 million in seed funding to expand its Sober Sidekick app. 

Investors include Nina Capital, HealthX Ventures, 46 Ventures, the Venture Center, Ikigai Growth Partners, Suncoast Ventures, High Street Equity Partners and angel investors.

WHAT IT DOES

The company’s Sober Sidekick app is a free sobriety app with a peer-led program to help individuals quit drinking and track and maintain their sobriety. Users can connect with other users, access 24/7 AA meetings and seek professional help via chat with professionals. 

The Arkansas-based company, which launched in 2019, will use the funds to scale its operations and expand its presence in the healthcare community. 

“I am alive because the right people showed up for me at my most critical moments. They were not paid professionals but regular people who overcame something similar. I am one of the lucky ones, and Sober Sidekick exists to create a world where connecting with the right people at the right time is no longer up to chance,” founder and CEO Chris Thompson said in a statement.

“Relapse, overdoses and suicides typically do not happen in clinics or therapy sessions, they happen when people are alone in their darkest moments. Sober Sidekick exists to be a light in their darkest moments as they overcome generational curses to create their epic comeback stories of recovery.”

MARKET SNAPSHOT

According to the NIH National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed 28.9 million people 12 years and older had alcohol use disorder within the previous year. 

Other digital health companies seeking to help individuals ease substance use include the digital substance use management platform Pelago, which announced earlier this year that it had secured $58 million in Series C funding, bringing its total raise to $151 million.  

Bicycle Health, a virtual opioid use disorder treatment company, announced earlier this year its partnership with teletherapy company Talkspace to expand access to virtual care for patients of both companies. 

Addiction recovery startup Workit Health raised $118 million in Series C funding last year, and Quit Genius offers treatment programs for tobacco, alcohol and opioids.