Berlin-based digital mental health startup Arab Therapy has raised $2 million in a Pre-Series A funding round to expand access to culturally and linguistically relevant mental healthcare for more than 400 million Arabic speakers worldwide.
The round was led by Manara Ventures, with participation from Anara Impact Fund and Saudi Arabia’s Value Makers Studio (VMS). Founded in 2021 by Jordanian entrepreneurs Dr. Tareq Dalbah and Hekmat Al Hasi, Arab Therapy currently operates across Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany, and Egypt, offering online therapy, Arabic mental health content, and AI-powered tools.
Building Mental Health Infrastructure for the Arab World
Arab Therapy is addressing a significant gap in the region’s mental healthcare system: access to services that understand not only the Arabic language, but also the cultural context in which people experience mental health challenges.
The platform connects users with licensed mental health specialists, while providing a library of Arabic-language mental health content and AI-powered tools. Its clinical framework is supervised by professionals from the University of Hamburg, and the company operates through both B2C and B2B models.
“We founded Arab Therapy because millions of people in our region didn’t have access to mental health support in their own language and in a way that fit their culture,” said Dr. Tareq Dalbah, CEO and Co-Founder of Arab Therapy. “This round allows us to expand faster — into new markets, deeper products, and greater impact on people’s everyday lives.”
Investors Back a Regional Opportunity
For Manara Ventures, the investment represents an opportunity to support Jordanian founders building businesses capable of serving an entire region.
“This is how we want to make our mark, and Arab Therapy is where it starts. Jordan is on the map, and Jordanian founders are proving they can build for an entire region. We’re just getting started,” said Luma Fawaz, Managing Director of Manara Ventures.
Nadia Moukaddam, Principal at Anara Impact Fund, highlighted the scale of the opportunity, saying, “Arab Therapy is building the mental health infrastructure for the Arab region. The cultural and linguistic gap in this sector is significant, and we see this team as ideally positioned to lead the market.”
Meanwhile, Moataz Abuonoq, Founder and CEO of VMS, said the company’s culturally relevant AI platform could transform access to mental healthcare, adding that VMS was proud to support Arab Therapy as it expands across Saudi Arabia, the wider region, and globally.
Scaling Across Saudi Arabia and MENA
Arab Therapy will deploy the new capital toward expanding its presence in Saudi Arabia and broader MENA markets, while investing in its AI capabilities and product development.
The latest round follows a $1 million Seed round in April 2024, led by Flat6Labs and Vision Health Pioneers. With its Pre-Series A funding, Arab Therapy is now positioned to scale a model built around a simple but powerful premise: mental healthcare becomes more accessible when people can receive support in their own language, within their own cultural context.
