- Founded
- 2024
- Headquarters
- New York, NY
- Latest Round
- Series A
- Est. Valuation
- ~$400M
Investment Thesis
Slingshot AI is a mental health AI company that built Ash, a therapy chatbot designed for behavioral health support. Founded by Daniel Cahn and Neil Parikh (co-founder of Casper Sleep). Ash has attracted over 50,000 beta users.
The company has raised $93M in total funding, starting with a $30M seed led by a16z, followed by a Series A extension. Valued at approximately $220M.
Half the world will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime, 54% of those struggling get zero care, and there will never be enough human therapists to close the gap.
Ash is built on the first foundation model for psychology, trained on one of the largest behavioral health datasets ever assembled — it acts like a real therapist, not a chatbot.
Generative AI finally crossed the quality bar for nuanced therapeutic dialogue — knowing when to stay silent, when to push back — while 59M Americans sought therapy in 2023 and most couldn't get it.
50K+ organic beta users averaging 25-35 minute sessions with 90% reporting meaningful breakthroughs, scaling to $93M raised with zero public marketing before launch.
Neil Parikh (co-founder of Casper Sleep, scaled to $500M+ revenue and IPO) and Daniel Cahn (AI/ML researcher, Imperial College London) with clinical lead Derrick Hull (ex-Noom, ex-Talkspace).