- Latest US$5mil injection caps its Series B round at US$14mil
- Fund to be used to reach profitability within a year, expand into SEA markets
If the startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia needed a reminder about the still tough funding situation in the region, it need look no further than the just announced US$5 million (RM21.14 million) round Naluri Pte Ltd closed to cap off its Series B round which hit US$14 million (RM59.2 million), after announcing a US$7 million raise back in June 2022. This was follwed by an internal round of US$2 million in 2024.
[RM1 = US$0.237]
It took Southeast Asiaʼs leading digital employee health and wellbeing provider, three years and speaking to 57 investors to close the round, leading, Azran Osman-Rani, its bald co-founder and CEO to quip, “If I had hair, I would lose it all over again.”
The US$5 million round is led by TELUS Global Ventures, the investment arm of Canadian conglomerate Telus which counts healthcare among its businesses. Existing investors Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia, M Venture Partners, and others also participated.
Elaborating on the experience, Azran said, “It was exceptionally hard because when global venture funding dried up because of the surge in interest rates (from 2H 2023), founders had to shift to cash conservation mode. Yet, raising new capital means you have to show growth potential, and we did.”
Despite being considered one of the leading startups in Malaysia, it is striking that no Malaysian investors were in the new round. This despite the government stating its intention to support its startup ecosystem and urging Government-Linked Investment Companies (GLICs) to support startups under its Ekonomi Madani announced in Aug 2024 with both Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pekerja or KWAP tasked with supporting the startup ecosystem.
While frustrated with the situation, Azran was measured in his response when asked. “No GLICs participated in this round. I suspect that it’s hard for them to invest in small ticket sizes of less than US$10 million and even this is very low for them.”
The glue provided by ‘social capital’
Among the many challenges faced when a funding round drags on for startups is to keep staff motivated and to retain them. Azran acknowledges this but also points to the understated importance of ‘social capital’ when the going gets tough.
“It’s tough to retain staff when you are very resource constrained. Key for Naluri is the six of us in the leadership team. And I think Aidan Saheran, our Chief Commercial Officer, explained it best – social capital – that we’ve known each other for years even before joining Naluri, and that fosters a sense of trust that we’ll look out for each other. Also, there is a strong sense of mission – can we help to make mental healthcare covered by insurance, make it more affordable and accessible.”
The funding will be used for working capital to reach profitability within a year, and further expansion into Asian markets, starting with the Philippines and Vietnam.
This is a change in priority from when it announced the first part of its Series B raise in 2022 with Philippines, Hong Kong and Australia targeted for expansion.
Azran explains, “With the new incoming investor, we’ve agreed that Philippines remains a priority expansion market, but we are now prioritising Vietnam ahead of HK and Australia. Although we thought we were going to use the 2022 capital for expansion, when funding dried up in 2023, we held off on expansion and just consolidated in our existing markets of Malaysia (when it launched in 2017), Singapore (2019), Indonesia (2019) and Thailand (2022).”
“We are deeply honoured to have won the trust of our investors to scale this business model and reach the 1 million lives covered milestone,ˮ said Azran. “Iʼm extremely proud of my team who stood together through the macroeconomic storms of the past couple of years, batten down the hatches to deliver consistent positive unit economics in this period. Weʼve emerged stronger and battle-hardened, ready for smarter market expansion.ˮ The 1 million milestone was achieved in July.
“Our investment in Naluri allows us to expand our footprint in Southeast Asia while also demonstrating TELUS’ strategic commitment to leading the evolution of workplace mental health solutions globally,” said Terry Doyle, Managing Partner at Telus Global Ventures. “Naluri’s comprehensive approach to employee wellbeing, combined with their innovative programmes that integrate mental health, preventive behavioral health, and chronic disease management, positions them perfectly to address the growing demand for holistic health solutions in the workplace across Southeast Asian markets.”
Concurrent to this investment, Telus Health has signed a commercial partnership agreement with Naluri to serve their Employee Assistance Programme clients across eight markets in the region. According to TELUS this investment marks a deepening of its commitment to advancing digital health innovation globally through both commercial scale and impact-driven capital. The investment from TELUS Global Ventures, through the Pollinator Fund for Good, demonstrates commercial success and measurable impact can go hand in hand, it said.
Meanwhile, Naluri said it has established a clear leadership position in the employee wellbeing markets in both Indonesia and Malaysia, serving enterprise clients in banking and insurance, energy and mining, telecommunications and technology, transport and logistics, professional services and BPO sector.
Combined with its presence in Singapore and Thailand, it has secured several Pan-Asian and global clients with its unique programmes that combine mental health, preventive behavioural health and chronic disease management, with health screenings and assessments, health promotion and engagement programmes, multidisciplinary health coaching and consultation services, and 24/7 crisis support lines.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
