Nigerian entrepreneur Esther Eruchie is using artificial intelligence to rethink how mental healthcare is delivered, building FriendnPal as a behavioural health platform designed to identify potential risks earlier and connect people to professional support before a crisis develops.
Founded in 2023, FriendnPal combines artificial intelligence, behavioural analytics, digital assessments, risk stratification and remote patient monitoring to create a more continuous picture of an individual’s mental wellbeing.
The idea emerged from Eruchie’s personal experience with mental health and the loss of her mother to depression. That experience shaped her view that mental healthcare should not only respond when someone reaches a crisis point, but should also be able to recognise warning signs earlier.
“Globally, mental healthcare is largely reactive,” Eruchie said. “FriendnPal is building the infrastructure to make care continuous, predictive and preventive.”
At the centre of the platform is an AI system designed to identify changes in behavioural and psychological patterns over time. Rather than relying only on what happens during an appointment or formal assessment, FriendnPal combines behavioural signals with clinical assessments and contextual information to develop a more longitudinal view of a user’s wellbeing.
When the system identifies potential risk signals, users can be directed to licensed mental health professionals for further assessment and intervention. The company describes this as a human-in-the-loop approach, with AI supporting clinical decision-making rather than replacing healthcare professionals.
This distinction is particularly important in mental healthcare, where technology can help with access and early identification but cannot independently provide the depth of human clinical judgement required in serious cases.
FriendnPal’s technology is designed to work across multiple digital channels, including mobile, web, voice and WhatsApp. The platform supports more than 50 languages, an approach intended to make digital mental health services more accessible across different linguistic and socioeconomic environments.
The company is also moving beyond its original direct-to-consumer model. FriendnPal is increasingly positioning its technology as behavioural health infrastructure that can be deployed by healthcare providers, employers, universities, governments, research organisations and other institutions.
For organisations, the platform can support employee assistance programmes, institutional mental health deployments, remote patient monitoring and behavioural analytics. For individuals, FriendnPal generates revenue through paid therapy sessions, subscriptions, therapy packages and premium mental health services.
The startup says it has already reached almost 90,000 people and completed more than 60,000 behavioural and clinical assessments. It also reports that almost 1,500 cases it classified as suicide-risk cases were intercepted and supported through intervention pathways, while the company has generated more than US$100,000 in revenue despite being self-funded to date.
Its user base is also becoming increasingly international. FriendnPal reports users in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Japan, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, with plans to deepen its presence across African markets while expanding further into Europe.
The opportunity FriendnPal is pursuing is rooted in a major weakness in traditional healthcare systems: much of a patient’s mental health journey happens between appointments.
A person may be assessed during a consultation, receive treatment and then return home, but changes in their behaviour, mood or psychological state can occur long before their next interaction with a healthcare professional.
FriendnPal is attempting to fill that gap with technology that can continuously collect and analyse signals, identify potential changes and create pathways for earlier intervention.
The company is therefore positioning itself as more than an AI chatbot or online therapy marketplace. Its stated ambition is to build an intelligence layer that can sit between individuals and healthcare systems, helping providers identify changing risks and respond sooner.
That ambition comes as AI becomes increasingly prominent in African healthcare, but also as questions around privacy, clinical safety and the appropriate role of artificial intelligence in sensitive areas such as mental health become more important. Earlier reporting on AI mental health services in Nigeria has highlighted both the accessibility benefits of digital tools and concerns around privacy, regulation and the need for human professional care in high-risk situations.
For Eruchie, the opportunity is ultimately about changing the point at which mental healthcare begins.
Instead of waiting until someone is visibly in crisis before the healthcare system responds, FriendnPal is attempting to use AI and continuous monitoring to identify signals earlier, connect people with human support and make mental healthcare more proactive.
If that model can scale responsibly, the Nigerian startup could offer a different way of thinking about digital mental healthcare — one where technology does not replace the therapist, but helps the healthcare
