Naluri, a digital employee healthcare provider based in Malaysia, is preparing to expand further across Southeast Asia.
Recently, it closed an equity fundraising round, securing $5 million from TELUS Global Ventures and existing investors, Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia, and M Venture Partners. This brings its total Series B funding raised to $14 million.
WHAT IT'S FOR
In a press statement, the company shared that it will deploy its new funds to enter the Philippines and Vietnam.
Naluri offers tailored employee health programmes to enterprise clients in various industries in Malaysia and Indonesia. These programmes 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.
It has also brought these programmes to Singapore and Thailand.
Alongside its recent fundraising, the company signed a commercial deal with TELUS Health to serve their Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) clients in eight SEA markets.
Naluri last raised $5 million in Series A funding in 2021.
WHY IT MATTERS
Recent studies highlight the urgent need to expand the accessibility and variety of EAP offerings for Southeast Asian workers in the post-pandemic era. This comes as rising numbers of employees in the region report heightened burnout, alongside growing cases of chronic illnesses driven by rapid population ageing.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
Another innovative solution for improving employee wellbeing in Malaysia is telehealth kiosks. In 2022, startup QMed Asia introduced the concept, which serves as a "mini clinic" for remote online consultations with licensed general practitioners.
Meanwhile, H2U, a corporate health solutions provider from Taiwan, is working its way to South Korea following its first partnership and investment there in 2023. Its international expansion was backed by electronics manufacturer Foxconn.
