In a move that could reshape digital mental healthcare in emerging markets, US-based healthtech startup Allia Health has successfully closed a $2 million funding round backed by prominent investor Tim Draper and plans Pakistani expansion, co-founder Saroosh Khan told Profit in an interview.
Tim Draper is the founder of Draper Associates and co-founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), two venture capital firms that back revolutionary startups. Draper has invested in numerous high profile companies including Tesla, Hotmail, and Baidu.
Angel investors from Stanford Healthcare Innovation Labs also joined Allia Health’s round.
With a footprint already in motion in the US where it is headquartered and teams already based in Pakistan, Allia plans to be the next challenger in the Pakistani healthtech space. The company is aiming to solve local mental healthcare and infrastructure challenges through a tech-driven platform. The services could be extended to other categories in primary healthcare.
The startup is co-founded by Karachiite Saroosh Khan, whose father is still employed as a junior commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army. After completing his early education at Cadet College Jhelum, Saroosh earned his undergraduate degree from IBA on a full scholarship. Allia Health stands out as the recent milestone in Saroosh’s professional journey.
Allia is a clinician-facing platform designed to ease the operational burdens of mental health professionals in the US. The platform provides tools including telehealth, session notes, automated treatment planning, behavioral data tracking and assessments, all integrated into the platform.
“The idea is to reduce the cognitive and administrative overload on providers, especially in systems like the US, where therapists are often overwhelmed with compliance, record-keeping, and fragmented care information,” says Khan. “Allia consolidates patient data and helps providers deliver more precise, contextualised care while keeping documentation compliant and fast.”
At the backend, Allia is building infrastructure for value-based care, allowing mental health professionals to form pools and secure higher insurance reimbursements tied to patient outcomes, not just service volume. It’s a big bet on what Khan calls “precision mental health”.
While the platform is currently free for individual mental health providers under a B2C model, revenue will be generated downstream through value-based insurance contracts and healthcare consolidation in the US market. Khan explains that if you can prove measurable progress using real data, better insurance deals can be unlocked. “We help providers do exactly that.”
As Allia explores expansion into Pakistan, the mission becomes even more ambitious. While the tech and engineering team is already largely Pakistan-based, Khan believes the market presents two massive challenges and opportunities.
“The first is the lack of centralised medical records. For example, a patient with a five-year history of depression who ends up in a cardiologist’s office with a heart attack that history hardly gets communicated. Without a unified record system, accurate care remains elusive,” he says.
“Second is the perception issue. Telehealth still isn’t widely trusted. The awareness and trust just aren’t there yet and it is going to be a long battle in the Pakistani market.”
Despite these hurdles, the company believes the Pakistani market is ripe for disruption in telehealth especially in urban areas where mental health care is chronically under-resourced.
“Ultimately, mental health care needs to become proactive, precise, and accessible whether you’re sitting in a clinic in California or Karachi,” says Khan. “That’s what we’re building.”
The startup’s recent funding, validated by names like Tim Draper, is expected to fuel product development and deepen research collaborations. In Pakistan, the company plans to attract top talent and expand engineering and tech teams.
