a16z-backed Slingshot AI has launched a new AI-backed mental health therapy tool dubbed Ash.

This announcement comes as the New York City-based company has closed an extension of its Series A funding round, led by Radical Ventures and Forerunner Ventures, bringing its total raise to $93 million.

The company is led by Neil Parikh, co-founder of sleep unicorn Casper and Daniel Reid Cahn, previously a researcher at Imperial College London.

Users can tap into AI assistant Ash via talk or text for mental health support. The technology is designed to recognize user patterns and provide users with insights into their mental health. The app was created to remember what a user said in their last conversation with the technology, so the session can pick up where the last one left off.

Slightshot AI stated that the tool was training on a diverse behavioral health dataset, which included therapeutic styles and practices such as CBT, DBT, ACT, psychodynamic therapy, and motivational interviewing. The idea is for the AI tool to adapt its technique based on the user’s needs.

“The mental health crisis affects everyone and the system is fundamentally broken — 59.2 million Americans sought therapy in 2023 and reports show that 54% of people struggling with their mental health don’t receive any kind of care at all,” Cahn said in a statement. “We’ve built Ash from the ground up to address this need and provide a new type of support. Ash understands what real mental health support looks and feels like. Ash will challenge you and take you on a therapeutic journey, and deliver the right modality at the right time.”

Many in the mental health industry have turned to AI for both backend administrative services and patient support. However, there have been bumps along the road. For example, the behavioral health chatbot Woebot has raised over $123 million in venture funding. But it wound down its signature chatbot app at the end of June.

Still, this isn’t the only digital mental health chatbot on the market. Wysa raised $20 million in Series B funding in 2022, bringing its total fundraising to just under $30 million.

There have also been some wins for AI therapy in the research world recently. Research out of Dartmouth College found that an AI chatbot achieved comparable results to ‘gold standard cognitive therapy.’

But public trust may still be a hurdle for AI tools. A 2024 study from the health policy organization KFF found that only 29% of the public trusts AI chatbots for public health information.