What occurs when know-how is designed not simply to attach folks but in addition to consolation them? That’s the thought behind , an emotional wellness platform that began as a women-first neighborhood area and is now evolving right into a gender-neutral hub for twenty-four/7 knowledgeable assist.
Former Zee5 CEO Tarun Katial, who based the startup in 2021, says the pivot was a mandatory step within the platform’s evolution.
“Within the final 4 years, we constructed over 7,000 communities, and the very best engagement got here from the well being and wellness communities. The frequent factor all of them wanted was assist, and since we had been wanting into monetising the platform then, one-on-one consultations appeared ideally suited,” Katial tells YourStory.
With greater than 3 million app downloads on the AppStore and Google Playstore, coto continues to be rooted in its core philosophy of being a secure area for ladies to have the ability to have conversations sometimes not current on social media.
“We began consultations in August 2024 and by January, opened as much as all genders as we realised this wasn’t a ache level only for ladies. Nevertheless, our communities proceed to be just for ladies,” he says.
On the session facet, the emotional wellness platform provides classes throughout textual content, audio, and video with specialists in a number of modalities—psychological well being, relationship teaching, astrology, tarot, and Reiki.
Whereas coto is headquartered in Singapore, the B2C wellness platform has two places of work in India, in Mumbai and Delhi. Other than CEO Katial, the founding group consists of Aparna Acharekar, Shefali Anurag, Raj Kamal Singhal (CBO), Zeebee Siwiec (CTO), and Tabi Bude (Chief Growth Officer).
A democratic emotional wellness platform
coto presently hosts round 300 consultants on its platform, most of whom are vetted earlier to keep up high quality requirements. Whereas freshers can apply instantly, the acceptance fee is simply about 30%, guaranteeing a excessive bar for experience. As a gender-neutral area, the platform additionally requires all consultants to be LGBTQ-sensitive.
Amongst its companies, CEO Katial notes that tarot studying and tarot remedy high the charts in recognition, adopted intently by astrology and relationship teaching.
“Relationship assist has the very best potential,” he says, “since lots of the individuals who come to coto are navigating challenges and dysfunctions of their private lives.”
The platform expenses by the minute. For Indians, the value is Rs 40-50/minute, whereas globally it’s near $1/minute. And since session is accessible 24/7, there’s all the time a group of counsellors out there on the app at any given time.
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“Consider our feed like a reside TikTok feed the place consultants speak about specific subjects. Anytime a person logs in, they’ll scroll by the feed till they arrive throughout a subject of their selection. They’ll press a ‘name’ button to begin their session,” Katial explains.
All counsellors are ladies—90% are Indians, and the remainder are South Asians and Jap Europeans. Whereas the platform is slowly opening as much as hiring males, the CEO emphasises that its consultants will solely be primarily ladies.
“Many people, significantly ladies, typically really feel extra snug and supported when partaking with feminine therapists. Nevertheless, we recognise the worth of various views. We’ve male counsellors in particular classes the place their experience provides worth,” he says.
Other than India, coto has shoppers in Canada and the UK, principally South Asians residing there. It’s also seeing curiosity in america and the Center East.
Technifying emotional wellness
The corporate employs 25 folks, with the tech group working remotely. Katial says all features of coto’s know-how are led by AI and LLMs—OpenAI, Claude and Anthropic.
“We’ve a product analytics bot, a frontend bot, and a copywriter bot (in our advertising and marketing group). On the entrance finish, no matter data we get from a person—whether or not by a kind they stuffed, or by former session transcripts—we create content material for the knowledgeable (advisor) so that they know the whole lot in regards to the shopper,” he says.
AI additionally helps customers map their therapeutic journey by recommending specific follow-up classes. “Nevertheless, direct recommendation is all the time filtered by our specialists. In issues of emotion, one must be very cautious about what sort of recommendation is being imparted to shoppers.”
The CEO believes emotional wellness is “extraordinarily underpenetrated” in India. He says digitisation has allowed wellness therapies to be extra accessible to the general public and is optimistic in regards to the future.
“However we have to make it possible for the companies are prime quality and the service suppliers are vetted. Emotional wellness as an trade is a $7 billion market in India. Within the subsequent 5 years, we wish to clock a whole lot of tens of millions in income, which shouldn’t be a problem as coto has each nationwide and world alternatives.”
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coto raised over $10 million in a non-public funding spherical led by Jungle Ventures (JV). Rishab Malik, Accomplice at JV, applauds coto’s rigorously vetted specialists.
“coto is constructed to ship lasting transformation, not fleeting consultations. Backed by a world-class management group, the platform has the imaginative and prescient and the execution muscle to redefine emotional wellness at a world scale,” he says.
coto goals to generate a month-to-month income of $1 million within the subsequent six to 9 months. It competes with world mindfulness corporations akin to San Francisco-based Calm.
Katial believes coto’s USP lies in its holistic strategy to wellness.
“We’re a really built-in platform for emotional wellness. We’re not nearly session but in addition about transformative companies. We wish to guarantee you find yourself in an area the place you wish to get to,” he says.
Edited by Swetha Kannan
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