Boğaziçi Ventures Invests 4 Million TL in Hiwell Online Psychological Counseling
affordable and accessible online psychological counseling. The company has received a 4 million TL investment from Boğaziçi Ventures at a 16 million TL valuation.
The digital health market, which was valued at $106 billion in 2019, is projected to grow by 30% annually to reach $640 billion by 2026. In 2019, a total of $10.6 billion was invested in the digital health sector, and this figure doubled to $21.6 billion in 2020 during the pandemic. Notably, in the last quarter of 2020 alone, five unicorns emerged in the digital health space. Interest in telehealth has surged globally, rising from 11% to 76% in just one year, drawing strong investor attention.
Boğaziçi Ventures, which invests in high-growth areas such as gaming, fintech, digital health, new media, retail technologies, and blockchain, made this investment in Hiwell App, founded by Ali Ozan Özçiçek, with the mission of offering affordable and accessible online psychological counseling.
The investment was announced during a live broadcast on YouTube, where Boğaziçi Ventures, Hiwell App founder Ali Ozan Özçiçek, and Clinical Psychologist Gizem Berikan Beydemir discussed Hiwell’s founding story, how the platform works, and user feedback.
During the session, Boğaziçi Ventures partner Kenan Çolpan emphasized that there’s no reason why a world-leading digital health startup shouldn’t emerge from Turkey:
“When we invest in a startup, we always apply the 3A rule: Is the entrepreneur smart, ethical, and ambitious? These three criteria are crucial for us. In Hiwell, we found a very successful startup that meets these standards. More importantly, the team is highly specialized and well aware of the importance of adhering to ethical principles in healthcare, which is extremely valuable to us.”
“As we take this venture global, I’m confident Boğaziçi Ventures’ expertise will provide great value.”
Hiwell founder Ali Ozan Özçiçek explained that the idea for the startup came from his own challenges in finding a therapist. He highlighted how difficult it was both financially and logistically to access the right psychologist and realized the potential for creating value in this space:
“Hiwell’s mission is to make psychological counseling accessible to everyone, everywhere. As we take this venture from Turkey to the global stage, I am confident that Boğaziçi Ventures’ valuable expertise will be of immense benefit.”
Clinical Psychologist Gizem Berikan Beydemir added that the stigma around psychotherapy has almost completely disappeared in society, and there has been a significant positive shift in the past three years.
About Hiwell
Hiwell is a platform where users can register to receive online therapy from licensed expert psychologists, all of whom hold master’s degrees, receive/received supervision, and attend their own therapy. Hiwell’s goal is to make therapy accessible to everyone.