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Ayana Therapy
Techstars '20Los Angeles, US · 3 known investors
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Ayana Therapy is a Los Angeles-based teletherapy app matching marginalized and intersectional users with culturally attuned counselors.
Also known as Ayana · Ayana Health
Founders & leadership
Investors · 3
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How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
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Company profile
researched Sep 2026Ayana Therapy operates a mobile application that connects users from marginalized communities with licensed mental health counselors, with an explicit emphasis on intersectionality. Users are matched to a counselor through an intake questionnaire the company redesigned to capture cultural nuance: beyond race or ethnicity, it asks about region of origin, gender, sexual orientation and religion, and how the user ranks the relative importance of each attribute in a counselor. The company states the name Ayana means 'mirror' in Bengali, reflecting the intent of the matching process.
The service is delivered through calls, video calls and text messaging. The app also includes a private journal that is visible only to the user and their counselor, intended to let users record experiences between sessions. Counselors are vetted through background checks, license review and an experience threshold of three years or 2,000 hours before being listed on the platform. The company has said it was working toward accepting insurance in addition to direct-pay access.
Founding story
Founder Eric Coly, originally from Senegal, moved to the United States for college and spent ten years in banking before starting the company. He has described two converging motivations: attempting to help a close friend find a counselor and failing to find a culturally appropriate match, and his own experience with severe depression. He proposed building a product that would provide access to counselors in a more culturally nuanced way, and has said that building the company was also part of his own recovery, undertaken without a background in counseling or technology.
Business model
Ayana sells access to licensed counselors through its app on a per-session basis, priced at $60 per session as of 2021, and has also been approached by employers and a municipal government interested in offering the service to employees. The company stated it was working on accepting insurance.
Direct-to-consumer per-session payments ($60 per session as of 2021), with stated plans to accept insurance.
Traction
The founder reported receiving roughly 15,000 emails from people seeking help following the company's launch amid COVID-19 and the events of 2020, and inbound interest from large technology companies and the city of San Francisco.
Latest developments
A July 2024 report on Seae Ventures' acquisition of Unseen Capital identified Ayana Therapy as one of Unseen Capital's portfolio companies, describing it as focused on matching mental health care professionals who share minorities' values and sensibilities.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Positions itself as among the first mental health platforms built specifically for people of color and marginalized users with an emphasis on intersectionality, differentiating on cultural competency, counselor diversity and affordability relative to the broader teletherapy industry.
A matching questionnaire deconstructed and rebuilt to weigh multiple, layered identity factors rather than a single attribute; counselor vetting standards; and a price point the company describes as affordable relative to the industry. The founder frames the four barriers being addressed as cost, lack of insurance access, lack of diversity among counselors, and stigma.
Technology
A mobile app built around a matching questionnaire redesigned to replace what the company characterizes as Eurocentric intake instruments, adding culturally relevant items and weighting of counselor attributes such as region of origin, religion and sexual orientation. Sessions are delivered via calls, video calls and text. An in-app journal is shared only between user and counselor. The company says it analyzes its own user data to better understand the needs of this population, which it describes as sparsely represented in existing data.
Go-to-market
Direct-to-consumer app distribution supported by an online presence aimed at destigmatizing mental health in communities of color, alongside inbound interest from corporate and municipal buyers. Participation in the Techstars accelerator in Los Angeles preceded the product launch.
People of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals and other marginalized or intersectional users seeking therapy; employers and public-sector organizations have been cited as prospective channels.
Geography
Headquartered in Los Angeles, with services offered remotely; stated ambitions include partnerships with the U.S. government for formerly incarcerated people and with the Los Angeles Unified School District.
History
The company's early site advertised online therapy for marginalized communities with a planned launch in summer 2019. Ayana went through the Techstars accelerator program in Los Angeles and launched shortly after completing it, a launch that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and the social and racial unrest of 2020. According to the founder, the company received approximately 15,000 emails from people seeking help during that period and was approached by large technology companies and the city of San Francisco as a potential employee support offering. In May 2021, during Mental Health Month, it launched its direct-to-consumer channel at $60 per session.
Compiled by commissioned research from 4 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsSeae Ventures acquired Unseen Capital, whose portfolio includes Ayana Therapy; following the acquisition Seae Ventures manages more than $200 million in assets.
Ayana launched its B2C channel in May in support of Mental Health Month, offering access to a counselor at $60 per session.
The founder states the company went through the Techstars accelerator program in Los Angeles and launched its product immediately after completing it.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 4
primary sources listed
- AYANA THERAPYayanatherapy.squarespace.com · web
4 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Ayana Therapy do?
- Ayana Therapy is a Los Angeles-based teletherapy app matching marginalized and intersectional users with culturally attuned counselors.
- Who founded Ayana Therapy?
- Ayana Therapy was founded by Eric Coly.
- Who are Ayana Therapy's investors?
- Ayana Therapy's investors include Gaingels, Techstars, The Fund.
- Where is Ayana Therapy headquartered?
- Ayana Therapy is headquartered in Los Angeles, US.