Intellect Founder Raises $20 Million for His Mental Health Startup

Theodoric Chiu suffers from panic attacks and anxiety disorder. But he never lets it stop him – in fact, it inspires him to help others who suffer from the same thing.

Today, he’s the CEO and co-founder of mental health startup Intellect, which has raised more than $20 million. The company is 28 years old.

“We’re not just an app, we’re not just an emergency helpline,” Chiu told CNBC Make It.

He added that the idea is “an integrated system of mental health care that aims to address any level of risk and need.”

“It could be as acute and serious as a crisis call (where) you need to talk to someone on the ground… or it could be as simple as wanting to be more confident,” the Singaporean CEO said.

Founded in 2019, Intellect’s services range from mental health screening tools and self-care programs to consultations with doctors and in-person clinics. Intellect has more than 200 employees in 12 countries and says it will serve more than 3 million people through 2024.

From drop shipping to ad arbitrage, Chiu began experimenting with various online businesses throughout his teenage years.

“A lot of this started during my high school years (ages 12 to 16)… I was already working on some of my own stuff at that point,” said Chew, who attended Raffles Institution, a well-known and prestigious school in Singapore.

When Chiu turned sixteen, he decided to drop out of high school.

“Looking long term, I didn’t see myself going down a path of … becoming a top student, going to a top university, being a top lawyer or doctor,” he said.

But what he did know was that he wanted to spend more time building things. “For me, that’s doing the actual work in startups, not the theory.”

Chiu said he had two “lucky” opportunities after dropping out.

By the age of 20, he had already founded and successfully exited his first startup, Existgreat, a self-help content platform that featured interviews with the likes of American entrepreneur and speaker, Gary Vaynerchuk.

After the acquisition, Chiu moved on to work at a number of startups, where he gained further experience.

Speaking about his journey with mental health, Chiu said: “I had my first panic attack when I was 16.”

“At that moment, I realized something seemed wrong,” he added.

Chiu went to seek help from a therapist, and was later diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

Through his own experience, the Singaporean discovered a glaring problem: while mental health issues are prevalent in Asia, the area is not getting enough attention.

According to WHO research, “nearly one billion people worldwide suffer from mental health conditions, and about 260 million of them live in the WHO South-East Asia Region.”

Additionally, about 82% of workers in Asia are at “medium to high” risk of mental health problems, according to a report by insurer Aon and Telus Health.

“For me, some things started to click,” Chiu said. “It’s not news that Asia has one of the highest rates of mental health crises, but the stigma is so strong.”

Of course, there are cultural and historical differences that shape how Asians tend to deal with their mental health. They tend to be less inclined to share their feelings openly, Chiu explained.

“This extends to the broader societal focus on healthcare as well. A lot of investment and innovation is going into secondary, primary and tertiary care – we see hospitals being built,” but the mental healthcare market is immature, Chiu said.

Chiu saw that his friends were also struggling with their own mental health needs, and didn't know where to start.

“There was almost no innovation in mental health in Asia at that time,” he added.

“Not a lot has been done, but the issues are very real,” Chiu said. “So that gave us a very good starting point: How do we address this issue of helping people get started?”

And thus the mind was born.

“I think in the early stages, any founder has to be a little bit delusional,” Chiu said. “I don’t think I’m the smartest, I don’t think I’m the most capable, but… I’m naively ambitious, and I think that’s served me reasonably well.”

Throughout his journey so far, Chiu has been very aware of his strengths and, more importantly, where he lacks certain skills. Knowing his weaknesses, Chiu hires employees to perform certain skills and jobs.

“As a founder, especially a young founder, you have to be very aware of what you’re not good at, rather than what you are good at, and be open-minded to learning,” he said. “Our entire executive team has a lot more experience than I do.”

Besides being “naively ambitious” and being very self-aware, the key to Chiu’s success was threefold: having an innate interest in building things, a drive to experiment with ideas, and anticipating challenges along the way.

However, the reality is that “it never becomes very clear or easy for anyone, so there’s always this inertia that has to be overcome,” Chiu said. “I think[the expectation]of being part of the journey is also very important.”

Chiu is looking to expand Intellect beyond Asia, with the goal of becoming “the global leader in local mental healthcare,” he says.

“The journey has been so exciting and rewarding… I didn’t even anticipate how quickly we were able to meet a very clear need.”

When asked how he deals with the anxiety and stress of being a startup founder, he said he works on regulating his emotions and stress, and tries to compartmentalize them.

“Parking at work is sometimes required,” he said.

“I think having personal free time in space is important to me so I can work long term.”

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