OpenUp, an Amsterdam-based employee mental health startup, raised €20mn from Smartfin and Rubio Impact Ventures to speed up its expansion across Europe and bring in new expertise.
Gijs Coppens, founder of OpenUp and a registered healthcare psychologist, said easy access to professional support for employees should be standard at every company. He said demand keeps growing, though Europe’s mental well-being market still stays small and fragmented.
Low-barrier access to professional support for employees? That should be the most normal thing in the world at every company. Although interest is growing strongly, the mental well-being market in Europe is still relatively small and fragmented. At the same time, mental health is one of the most important challenges of the 21st century.
Gijs Coppens, registered healthcare psychologist and founder of OpenUp
He also said mental health ranks among the biggest challenges of the 21st century, and OpenUp wants this investment to deepen its role as a partner for organisations investing in employee support.
“As a European player, we know this market and its solutions well. With this investment, we want to become an even more important partner for organisations that want to invest in the mental support of their employees,” said Gijs Coppens.
Founded in 2020 by Coppens, OpenUp runs a workplace mental health platform built to help companies support stronger, more engaged teams.
Its offer includes one-to-one sessions with psychologists, physical health specialists such as nutritionists and sleep experts, and financial specialists. It also provides group sessions and online courses.
The company positions itself as a direct, preventive option for mental health support, rather than a standard employee assistance programme or occupational health service.
Support stays anonymous, comes with no waiting lists, and is available in more than 35 languages. The platform also covers lifestyle improvement and workplace effectiveness, not only mental health complaints.
OpenUp says employers do not see which individuals use the platform. They receive only usage figures at an aggregate level.
The company also says its experts cannot share user information with employers or third parties.
The Dutch startup argues mental well-being no longer sits in the nice-to-have category. More than 1.6mn Dutch employees, or 20%, show burnout symptoms, according to the company. Across Europe, the rate reaches 30%.
Coppens said pressure from AI adoption and geopolitical tension could push those figures higher in the next few years.
He said employers now carry growing responsibility in this area, and policymakers could push it toward a formal duty of care. He also said AI is changing how people work at a basic level, which makes employee support during this shift more urgent for organisations.
Unless we actively anticipate this and properly support employees. Employers are taking on an ever-greater responsibility in this area, and if policymakers have their way, even a duty of care. At the same time, technology such as AI is fundamentally changing the way we work.
“That is precisely why organisations need to think about how they support their people through that transition – which is exactly what we do at OpenUp,” added Coppens.
OpenUp says its platform now includes more than 250 connected professionals and works in 35 languages.
Around 600,000 employees and family members currently have access to its services, including financial guidance, confidential counsellors, group sessions, and one-to-one support from lifestyle coaches and psychologists.
The company operates in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, France, and Belgium. It serves more than 2,000 companies, including Rabobank, Decathlon, and Deloitte.
