Irad Eichler, founder and CEO of Circles (video screenshot)
Circles, an Israeli startup that offers an emotional support platform, raised $16.5 million in a Series A round of funding led by Zeev Ventures. Circles brought in $8 million in seed funding in the summer of 2021.
Many services are now offering online therapy and psychological services for people in need of help. These services range from marital counseling, to people having problems with their children, problems with loneliness and stress in general. And not everyone has the budget for therapy, which can be quite expensive. And they also do not always have the time to travel back and forth to a therapist’s office. And nowadays, with the high price of gas, traveling is getting quite expensive too.
But what really served as the spark for businesses like Circles was the worldwide Covid crisis. People could not leave their homes and so therapy sessions needed to be held online through apps like Zoom. And the number of people in need of some sort of professional counseling skyrocketed due to all of the Covid related stress. People were angry and alone because they were stuck in their homes all day and night. And those who have families were under considerable stress at having to spend all day every day with their spouse and kids.
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And not everyone needs extended therapy. Some people only need help for a brief period of time because of a specific incident. After yet another school shooting this week in America countless people who have no personal connection to the Texas school still felt in need of help dealing with the stress that the tragedy caused. Circles can also help with this.
Founded in 2020 by Irad Eichler and Dan Landa, who serves as the company’s CRO and was previously a senior marketing lead at Google, Circles is a digital platform that offers emotional support during times of need by connecting users with people going through a similarly hard time. Through small, secure online groups led by a professional therapist, users are surrounded by “care and support with the opportunity to find mutual relief and encouragement, develop coping skills, and build personal resilience.”
“There’s something truly incredible that happens when people who are coping with similar challenges get together – and the better the match, the more powerful the group experience,” said Eichler. “With this new round of funding, we’ll strengthen our matching technology to match with more accuracy, increasing each group’s predisposition for success. This will bring us closer to our goal of making everyone, everywhere feel less alone.”
