Amaha Funding: Mental Healthcare Startup Set to Raise ₹100 Crore for Hospital and Clinic Expansion

The round brings together new and existing investors, including Lightbox, Fireside Ventures and prominent family offices and entrepreneurs. The capital will drive further expansion of Amaha’s hospital and clinic network in key cities across India, along with investments in clinical capabilities and technology.

Amaha, an integrated mental healthcare organisation, is set to close ₹100 crore fundraise to expand its hospital and clinic network and strengthen access to specialist care for people living with moderate to severe mental illness and their families. The round includes participation from existing investors such as Lightbox Ventures and Fireside Ventures, alongside London-based life skills platform, Sandbox International Holdings Limited (SIHL), Nithin Kamath (through Rainmatter), and the family offices of Mr. Shreyas Shibulal, Mr. Ashish Bharat Ram and Mr. Adarsh Jalan. The ₹100 crore round also includes ₹10 crore in debt financing from Alteria Capital.

This capital will power the next phase of Amaha’s growth, including new hospitals and clinics in key cities across India. It will also help Amaha strengthen its clinical teams and invest in the technology and structures needed to deliver high-quality specialist mental healthcare to more people across India.

Dr. Amit Malik, Psychiatrist, Founder and CEO of Amaha, said: “Over the years, working with lakhs of individuals and families, we have seen how important it is for people living with mental illness to get the right care at the right time, with their families supported along the way. At Amaha, we have built an integrated model that brings together specialised online consultations, outpatient care and hospital-based treatment, delivered by our in-house team of expert psychiatrists and psychologists, to make mental healthcare more accessible.

Our focus now is on deepening our clinical expertise and further building the infrastructure and systems needed to make evidence-based specialist mental healthcare accessible to more individuals and families across India, while maintaining high quality of treatment.”

Strengthening Clinical Capabilities

As its network grows, Amaha will further invest in strengthening clinical training and supervision, expanding its range of evidence-based treatments and protocols that ensure consistent standards of care.

It will also invest in technology, including AI-enabled tools for triage and clinician support, and data analytics that help clinical teams coordinate treatment, track outcomes and improve care delivery. Together, these capabilities will support clinicians in providing personalised, evidence-based care across Amaha's digital, outpatient and hospital services.

Mental Healthcare: The Case for Timely Intervention

Amaha's Mental Health Report 2026 draws on responses from 13,825 people who responded to questions about their mental health, experiences of distress and pathways to seeking professional support. It found that 53% of respondents had lived with their mental health concerns for more than a year before seeking professional help, and 94.9% reported experiencing two or more concerns at the same time. The findings highlight the need for timely access to specialist mental healthcare, through assessment and continued treatment.

About Amaha

Founded in 2016 by psychiatrist and healthcare entrepreneur Dr. Amit Malik, Amaha is an integrated mental healthcare organisation offering services across digital self-care, outpatient and inpatient treatment, and community support. It provides evidence-based assessment and treatment for a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD, addiction, schizophrenia and personality disorders.

Amaha operates nine centres across Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, and Mumbai, with services available in more than 15 languages. It has delivered over 450,000 therapy and psychiatry sessions to more than 100,000 clients, the vast majority of them in India. Its clinical network comprises 270+ mental health professionals, and its peer support communities have 65,000+ members.

In 2022, Amaha partnered with Children First, to strengthen its services for children, adolescents and families. In 2025, it launched a 27-bed super-specialty mental health hospital in Bengaluru, expanding its capabilities in intensive psychiatric care. Amaha’s second 55-bed mental health hospital is due to commence services at the end of December, 2026 in South Bangalore. Amaha also partners with 150+ organisations to deliver workplace and institutional mental health programmes.

Website: www.amahahealth.com

Media Contact:

Akshat Jain

Storytellers101
Akshat@storytellers101.com | +91 99202 10948

Agri Tech startup WayCool Foods Raises $32 Mn in Funding led by Lightbox

Chennai-headquartered WayCool Foods has raised U$32 Mn in a combination of equity and debt in its Series C round, the company said in a statement yesterday. The round was led by Lightbox and saw participation of FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, as well as its current investor LGT Lightstone Aspada. The company has also partnered with InnoVen Capital to raise venture debt as part of this round.

WayCool Foods procures, processes and distributes a wide range of food products including fresh produce, staples and dairy products, moving over 250 tonnes of food every day to 8,000 enterprise clients across Southern India. The company operates a soil-to-sale model, engaging deeply with a base of nearly 40,000 farmers to improve farm income, while bringing efficiency through its direct supply chain model.

The company has stated that it will use the funds raised to automate its supply chain and build the next layer of data analytics required to strengthen supply chain efficiency. It will also develop and expand its range of value-added products to enterprise and retail customers.

Karthik Jayaraman, Co-Founder and CEO, WayCool said, “We are committed to building a lean, efficient and profitable enterprise that makes social impact an integral part of its operations. Lightbox’s deep experience in technology and brand building will greatly help us as we strengthen our digital backbone, and our move into value-added products. FMO’s guidance will be of essence in building a culture of impact orientation across the organization and staying true to the course”.

WayCool is developing a range of branded products and currently has brands such as Freshey’s, Kitchenji, Madhuram and Shuddha. Given our direct relationships throughout the supply chain, it gives us the ability to better project demand and supply for products across various categories such as Fruits, Vegetables, Dairy, Staples, etc.

“We have spent time with the remarkable team led by Karthik and Sanjay at WayCool and the community of farmers on their platform”, says Prashant Mehta, Partner at Lightbox. “We’re thrilled with the achievement and the focus they have on leveraging technology to solve the massive challenges in the food supply chain. We look forward to working with them and positively impacting the livelihood of farmers and build a long-term sustainable business.”

WayCool will also deploy its funds to deepen and widen ‘Outgrow’, its agricultural extension program. The company has recently announced the set-up of its first Agricultural Research Station, where it will collaborate with multiple startups to bring the most relevant production technologies to its expanding farmer base.

Linda Broekhuizen, Chief Investment Officer at FMO, “We are proud to be a partner of WayCool. The company leverages technology and innovative concepts to improve logistics and distribution services. Therefore, value chains are optimized thereby realizing reduced food waste. The company is also highly impactful on the social side as it sources its produce from over 35,000 smallholder farmers that benefit from higher prices and improved yields. In addition to this, it provides employment to over 900 people. This is FMO’s first Agri Tech deal under the new Ventures Program, which focusses on Fintech, Off-Grid Energy, and Agri Tech. We look forward to supporting the company to become the largest and most impactful food logistics & distribution company of India.”

WayCool has stated that it intends to accelerate its path to profitability and will focus on maintaining as well as further improving its lean, capital efficient model.

WayCool has previously raised two rounds of funding from Aspada, LGT Impact Ventures, Caspian Impact Investment, and Northern Arc Capital Ltd.

Female-Care Product Startup Nua Raises $4 Mn from Lightbox Ventures

Mumbai-based Nua, a female care brand, has raised $4 million in Series A round of funding led by Lightbox Ventures with contribution from te startup's existing investor Kae Capital.

Operated by Lagom Labs, Nua -- as a brand -- creates products and services that revolved around women’s health and wellness. It currently makes sanitary pads and sells them online.

The Nua sanitary pads do not have prints, perfume or any chemical on the top layer, come in convenient disposable covers and are delivered as per the chosen frequency.

Founded in 2017, by Ravi Ramachandran and Swathi Kulkarni, Nua aspire to be the leading online-led femcare brand by building a tech-enabled company that truly cares for every woman's needs.

The funding, which marks Lightbox’s first investment from its $200 million third fund, will allow Nua to make investments in technology and data as well as in expanding its product offerings.

Prashant Mehta, partner at Lightbox, said to Business Standard, "I think in Nua, we found a team that has thought through how to create an amazing experience for women and do it in a manner that is delivering massively amazing value."

"If you think about fem-care, there are already companies at the high end of the spectrum, you can always get very high-end products, but this team (Nua) really felt that it was important to bring care and wellness ideas to millions of women and not just the top echelon of women group,” said Mehta of Lightbox.

In August last year, Gurgaon-based Carmesi, which makes premium, all-natural and biodegradable sanitary pad, had raised $500,000 from Samrath Bedi, Managing Director, Forest Essentials, a luxury Ayurvedic beauty brand.

An another Sanitary Pad making startup called Saathi also provides affordable and bio-degradable sanitary pad made from waste Banana tree fiber and provide to women in rural India. The startup has recently selected in top 10 Innovative startups 2019 by Fast Company.

Source - Business Standard

Early Stage VC Firm Lightbox Raises $178 Mn of the Targeted $200 Mn Fund-III

Mumbai headquartered Lightbox Ventures, an early-stage consumer technology venture capital firm, has raised $178 million of the targeted $200 million for its flagship third venture fund "Lightbox Ventures Fund-III", according to an SEC filing.

According to the filing, the third fund has so far raised capital from 19 limited partners.

At $200 million, it would be the largest such venture fund raised by Lightbox till date. If successfully closed, the Fund-III would bring Lightbox’s total funds raised to approximately $392.2 million to date. Earlier, Lightbox raised $38.2 million for its first fund, and about $100 for the second fund.

Lightbox has backed startups such as Faasos, Embibe, Furlenco and Droom. The firm has made a total of 11 investments so far.

Lightbox is currently led by led by Sandeep Murthy, a former general partner at Sherpalo Ventures, who started Lightbox after his old firm shifted its investment focus to the United States. LLater, other partners including Sid Talwar, Prashant Mehta, Jeremy Wenokur, and Sunny Rao joined the firm. Rao left the firm in 2016 while all other remain.

Technically speaking, Lightbox comes under the industry category of "Micro VC", a kind of venture capital where money is invested to seed early-stage emerging companies with amounts of finance that is typically less than that of traditional venture capital.

In December 2016, Lightbox had raised $54 million as an extension of its second fund of $100 million, which it had closed in late 2014, to invest in its existing portfolio start-ups. With the latest fundraise, the total funding by firm has surpassed $370 million across funds till date.

From the first fund, the firm had invested in GreenDust, ZoomIn, MapmyIndia, Paymate, FutureBazaar, and Kotak Urja. It other investments included independent mobile ad network InMobi, travel site Cleartrip, recruitment site Naukri, and Greendust.

The team of Lightbox has a mix of entrepreneurs, technologists and investors, with a global operational experience in consumer tech. according to the firm almost everyone at Lightbox has co-founded startups including Cleartrip, Newhoo (purchased by Netscape), Half.com (purchased by eBay) and Evolv (purchased by NIIT) and have also led functions at Google, eBay, Komli, IAC, Yahoo, Sony, Cleartrip, InMobi and NIIT.

It may also be recalled that besides Lightbox, VC firm Sequoia Capital also closed $695 million for its sixth India-focused fund, in late last month. In the same month, Matrix Partners India too announced it raised $300 million for its third fund.

Via ~ DealStreeatAsia, Crunchbase

[Top Image - Livemint.com]

Early Stage VC Firm Lightbox Raises $178 Mn of the Targeted $200 Mn Fund-III

Mumbai headquartered Lightbox Ventures, an early-stage consumer technology venture capital firm, has raised $178 million of the targeted $200 million for its flagship third venture fund "Lightbox Ventures Fund-III", according to an SEC filing.

According to the filing, the third fund has so far raised capital from 19 limited partners.

At $200 million, it would be the largest such venture fund raised by Lightbox till date. If successfully closed, the Fund-III would bring Lightbox’s total funds raised to approximately $392.2 million to date. Earlier, Lightbox raised $38.2 million for its first fund, and about $100 for the second fund.

Lightbox has backed startups such as Faasos, Embibe, Furlenco and Droom. The firm has made a total of 11 investments so far.

Lightbox is currently led by led by Sandeep Murthy, a former general partner at Sherpalo Ventures, who started Lightbox after his old firm shifted its investment focus to the United States. LLater, other partners including Sid Talwar, Prashant Mehta, Jeremy Wenokur, and Sunny Rao joined the firm. Rao left the firm in 2016 while all other remain.

Technically speaking, Lightbox comes under the industry category of "Micro VC", a kind of venture capital where money is invested to seed early-stage emerging companies with amounts of finance that is typically less than that of traditional venture capital.

In December 2016, Lightbox had raised $54 million as an extension of its second fund of $100 million, which it had closed in late 2014, to invest in its existing portfolio start-ups. With the latest fundraise, the total funding by firm has surpassed $370 million across funds till date.

From the first fund, the firm had invested in GreenDust, ZoomIn, MapmyIndia, Paymate, FutureBazaar, and Kotak Urja. It other investments included independent mobile ad network InMobi, travel site Cleartrip, recruitment site Naukri, and Greendust.

The team of Lightbox has a mix of entrepreneurs, technologists and investors, with a global operational experience in consumer tech. according to the firm almost everyone at Lightbox has co-founded startups including Cleartrip, Newhoo (purchased by Netscape), Half.com (purchased by eBay) and Evolv (purchased by NIIT) and have also led functions at Google, eBay, Komli, IAC, Yahoo, Sony, Cleartrip, InMobi and NIIT.

It may also be recalled that besides Lightbox, VC firm Sequoia Capital also closed $695 million for its sixth India-focused fund, in late last month. In the same month, Matrix Partners India too announced it raised $300 million for its third fund.

Via ~ DealStreeatAsia, Crunchbase

[Top Image - Livemint.com]