‘Out of Breaking Points Comes Opportunity’: Israel Charts Mental Health Tech Boom
Since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, Israel has faced a significant mental health crisis. The emotional toll on the population has been immense. However, in the spirit of Israeli resilience, this tragedy has become a catalyst for innovation. The mental health technology sector in the country is now witnessing rapid growth.
This emerging ecosystem has been mapped for the first time. Startup Nation Central, in collaboration with the iCAR organization and Bezyl, released Israel’s first mental health field landscape map for 2025 earlier this month. The map highlights technologies designed to help people cope with trauma, strengthen personal and social resilience, and increase access to mental healthcare. The goal, according to the organizations involved, is to help companies develop scalable, research-based solutions for trauma rehabilitation.
“Out of our deepest breaking points comes the opportunity to redefine how we train, diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate our community,” said Dr. Alona Barnea, head of the government’s Neurotechnology Research, Science & Technology Unit. “Our unique experience with resilience allows us not only to endure but to build upon it—transforming challenges into new pathways for recovery and strength.”
Another key vision of the initiative is to bring greater coordination to the mental health space. “We have a fragmented ecosystem,” explained iCAR Co-Founder Gila Tolub. She noted that Israel’s health funds, government services, hospitals, NGOs, philanthropists, and tech companies are all investing in mental health. However, “they need to collaborate in a whole new way because we realize this is bigger than any of us, and the only way to move forward is by working together.”
The map indicates that 117 active tech companies in Israel currently focus on mental health, a significant increase from 27 just seven years ago. The field started expanding as early as 2018, but momentum built even before October 7, according to Startup Nation Central. Last year saw the most substantial growth in investor confidence and funding. Private funding increased by 66% over 2023, reaching $123 million.
Tolub stated that many new companies are operating in Israel. Approximately 85% of mental health tech startups are still in early development stages, a higher percentage compared to the general health tech sector, where 65% are in early stages. By contrast, only 60% of companies are in early development across the entire Israeli tech ecosystem.
This early-stage focus also means that most companies are small. The report showed that the majority—65%—have 10 or fewer employees. Another 25% have between 11 and 50 employees, and just 10% have grown to more than 50.
To make the mental health tech landscape easier to understand, the team divided the sector into four categories: self-care, managed care platforms, workflow automation, and mental health research.
Self-care involves tools that help individuals manage their mental well-being. These include biofeedback devices, peer-support apps, and AI-guided therapy platforms that offer structure and coping tools. Dugri, a digital platform providing structured, anonymous peer support, is one example. It has been widely used in Israel, particularly among soldiers and their families, to help process trauma through guided conversations. “By placing support directly in the hands of users, these technologies offer accessible, stigma-free, and immediate relief,” the report noted.
Managed care platforms connect patients and therapists through digital or hybrid models. These can include telehealth services or AI-powered tools to assist in treatment delivery.
Kai.ai is a prominent example in this space, an AI-based mental health platform based on cognitive behavioral therapy and positive psychology. The company collaborates with Israeli universities to support thousands of reservists. Another company, GrayMatters Health, uses brain-computer interface technology to help individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) regulate brain activity by targeting biomarkers related to the amygdala.
Workflow automation tools aim to reduce clinicians’ administrative burden, allowing them to focus more on therapy. This is especially crucial in Israel, where the mental health system has been underfunded. According to the Health Ministry, there is only one public-sector psychiatrist for every 11,705 people. “Automation tools help streamline services, reducing wait times and allowing clinicians to focus on treatment rather than administration,” the report stated. “AI-driven automation solutions also make sure that individuals in crisis receive timely interventions, increasing system efficiency and effectiveness.”
Eleos Health is a leading company in this area. Its AI platform automatically captures key moments in therapy sessions and generates clinical documentation, streamlining workflows and helping therapists reduce symptoms more quickly. Eleos is among the most advanced mental health startups in Israel. According to Startup Nation Central, it has raised $128 million to date, including $60 million in a Series C round in January 2025.
Mental health research constitutes the final category. This area focuses on early diagnosis, personalized psychiatry, and machine learning tools that enhance diagnostic accuracy, predict patient responses to treatment, and tailor care to the individual.
NeuroKaire is one company in this space, utilizing patients’ blood cells to create brain models. These lab-grown neurons permit medications to be tested outside the body, offering a quicker, more precise method for treating PTSD, depression, and anxiety.
Tolub explained that the idea for iCAR—Israel Collective Action for Resilience—originated after the war, when it became clear that trauma care in Israel was fragmented. Even patients struggling to find help didn’t know where to turn.
Beyond that, Israel still lacks national protocols for mental health or trauma healing. With nearly 10 million people affected by some form of trauma simply by living through October 7 and the ongoing seven-front war, iCAR saw an urgent need to accelerate recovery efforts. Tolub said the organization is helping connect NGOs, universities, philanthropists, and other players to advance these efforts.
“We built a scientific advisory board with various experts from universities, health funds, etc., and we asked them if they had $100 million where they would put it—and then identified eight areas that could disproportionately accelerate healing from October 7,” Tolub said. “We identified interventions with high societal returns on investment.” One of those areas is advancing technological initiatives in mental health.
Startup Nation Central echoed that vision, stating there is “significant expansion potential for Israel’s mental health ecosystem—particularly in trauma care and resilience-building for broader communities.”
The report concluded: “Israel’s mental health crisis calls for coordinated, immediate action to leverage technological innovation in this sector. Several pivotal steps are required to grow the field and harness existing knowledge and innovation: firstly, expanding digital treatment options by integrating AI and automation solutions into legislation and national health policy; concurrently, intensifying public information campaigns and trauma awareness through digital psychoeducational programs and community initiatives; focusing on early detection of mental health trends through data analytics to prevent crises from escalating; increasing investment in both established and emerging startups to support research, development and widespread adoption of existing solutions; and finally, promoting international collaborations, drawing on Israel’s expertise in trauma care to assist global communities grappling with wars, disasters and mass-casualty events.”
Tolub stressed, “We do not have a choice. We will need technology to help all the people who need help.”
She added, “The world is looking at Israel as a petri dish for mental health. I think Israel didn’t become a leader in defense technology or cybersecurity out of pure luck. Necessity is the mother of innovation, and I think mental health technology is the next big thing.”
