Prince Harry joins San Francisco-based mental-health startup

BetterUp Inc, a San Francisco-based company that offers online professional coaching for mental health professional development and counseling, announced in a blog post on Tuesday that Harry has been named as its new impact officer.

BetterUp announced last month that it had raised $ 125 million in Series D financing, raising its valuation to $ 1.73 billion - stuck in a 'unicorn' area defined as a private enterprise with ' a valuation of more than $ 1 billion.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Harry joins the mental health firm.

"As a member of the BetterUp executive team, Prince Harry will expand on the work he has been doing for years as he educates and inspires our community and its importance is to focus globally on preventative mental fitness and human potential," said Alexi Robichaux. said, co-founder and CEO of BetterUp.

Prince Harry spoke openly about his mental health battle after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a car accident in Paris in 1997.

Harry's American wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, aired in a sensational interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this month that the stress of royal life led to her having suicidal thoughts.

"I firmly believe that the focus and priority of our mental fitness unlocks potential and opportunities that we never knew we had inside us," Harry said in the BetterUp blog post, adding that he personally met with one of the coaches of the business and the service available to employees of Archewell, the umbrella name for the couple's foundation and their audio and video production businesses.

Buckingham Palace announced in February that Harry and Meghan had told Queen Elizabeth II that they would not return as working members of the royal family, formalizing a split that began in January 2020 when the couple announced that they will retire from their roles as senior royals.

Since then, the California couple have made their home and entered into multi-year deals with Netflix and Spotify.