Kintsugi
Kintsugi was a voice biomarker AI company that detected depression and anxiety from speech patterns, serving healthcare payers, providers, and digital health firms via API. Founded in 2019, it shut down in 2026 after raising ~$30M and open-sourced its technology.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersBerkeley, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Kintsugi does
Kintsugi was a Berkeley-based voice biomarker AI company that developed technology to detect signs of clinical depression and anxiety from short clips of free-form speech, founded in 2019 by Grace Chang and Rima Seiilova-Olson. Its proprietary technology analyzed acoustic features such as pitch, intonation, tone, and pauses using deep learning and signal processing, and was language-agnostic, requiring no semantic understanding of spoken content. The company offered an API-first platform (Kintsugi Voice) targeting healthcare payers, providers, digital health companies, and call centers, with integrations into Epic EHR, Zoom telehealth, Pega's healthcare platform, and call center workflows. Kintsugi also operated a consumer voice journaling app (Kintsugi App) with 200K+ downloads across 250+ cities and a care coordination platform (Kintsugi Connect) that routed identified patients to mental health providers based on insurance plans. A separate Signal API extended the underlying acoustic analysis to deepfake detection, achieving near 100% accuracy in distinguishing human from AI-generated voices.
The business model combined B2B enterprise API licensing (quote-based, annual contracts) with a freemium consumer app and professional services for implementation. Revenue was never publicly disclosed and the company cited slow enterprise sales cycles as a material constraint. Over its seven-year history, Kintsugi raised approximately $30 million in total funding, including a $20 million Series A led by Insight Partners in March 2022, alongside NSF grants, accelerator support, and additional venture rounds. The company built clinical validation through a pivotal study with approximately 1,600 participants, published in the Annals of Family Medicine in January 2025, and pursued FDA De Novo clearance for its investigational device. Notable partners included Pega, Beam Health, Children's Hospital Colorado, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, UCSF, the World Bank Group's BRIDGE-MH initiative, and the Microsoft Pegasus Program.
Kintsugi shut down commercial operations in February 2026 after failing to secure FDA clearance, with its CEO publicly attributing the failure to the structural mismatch between venture capital timelines and FDA regulatory processes. The company open-sourced its voice biomarker models, scientific methodologies, and formative research under the Apache 2.0 license via Hugging Face rather than pursue a low-value acquisition.
Kintsugi firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kintsugi
- Legal name
- Kintsugi Mindful Wellness, Inc.
- Website
- https://kintsugihealth.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Closed
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Kintsugi was a voice biomarker AI company that detected depression and anxiety from speech patterns, serving healthcare payers, providers, and digital health firms via API. Founded in 2019, it shut down in 2026 after raising ~$30M and open-sourced its technology.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kintsugi industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Mental Health Voice Biomarker AI
- NAICS
- Other Computer Related Services (541519), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Speech Recognition, Dictation & Medical Transcription Platforms (HLACAAAI)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Contact Center Speech AI (agent assist, IVR automation) (HDAAAFAL)
Keywords
Where Kintsugi is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berkeley
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Kintsugi business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Enterprise API Licensing: B2B API licensing to healthcare payers, providers, and digital health companies for integration into clinical workflows. Enterprise contracts with organizations including top payers, health systems, and telehealth platforms.
- Consumer App: Consumer voice journaling app available on iOS, with freemium features and premium capabilities.
- Platform Integration Services: Technical assessment, implementation planning, user training, and ongoing support services for enterprise customers integrating Kintsugi Voice API.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise pricing for healthcare organizations |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Kintsugi product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kintsugi develops and sells an API-first voice biomarker AI platform (Kintsugi Voice) that analyzes short clips of free-form speech for acoustic markers (pitch, intonation, tone, pauses) to detect signs of clinical depression and anxiety in real time. The core technology is offered as a REST API (Health API) for enterprise integration into clinical workflows, alongside a Signal API for deepfake detection, a Kintsugi Connect care coordination platform, and a consumer Kintsugi App for voice journaling and self-care.
Product overview
Kintsugi offers a platform of voice biomarker products for mental health detection and care coordination. The core product is Kintsugi Voice, an API-first platform that uses proprietary AI to analyze speech patterns (pitch, intonation, tone, pauses) for detecting depression and anxiety. This technology powers two consumer and enterprise offerings: Kintsugi App (a voice journaling mobile app for individual mental wellness tracking) and Kintsugi Connect (a care marketplace that routes identified patients to therapists, psychiatrists, and mental health apps). Two developer-facing API products are available: the Health API (for clinical depression/anxiety screening) and Signal API (for deepfake detection in security applications). The company shut down commercial operations in February 2026 after seven years and open-sourced its core technology under Apache 2.0 license.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Kintsugi Voice: API-first platform using novel voice biomarkers in speech to identify, prioritize, and care for mental health in real time. Integrates with call centers, telehealth systems, and remote patient monitoring apps.
- Kintsugi Connect
- Kintsugi App
- Signal
Products and services
- Kintsugi Voice API-first platform that uses novel voice biomarkers in speech to identify, prioritize, and care for mental health in real time. Integrates into clinical workflows, EHR systems (Epic), telehealth platforms (Zoom), and call centers to detect signs of depression and anxiety from short clips of free-form speech. Targeted at enterprise healthcare organizations including payers, health systems, and digital health companies.
- Kintsugi Connect Care coordination platform that personalizes mental health care recommendations based on insurance plans after individuals are identified through Kintsugi Voice. Enables users to browse, filter, and book appointments with therapists, psychiatrists, and mental health apps. Targeted at payers, providers, and consumers who need to route identified patients to appropriate care.
- Kintsugi App Advanced voice journaling and self-care mobile application for iOS that empowers users to track thoughts and emotions through spoken entries. Provides mental health insights, cognitive behavioral therapy exercises, emotional progress tracking, and community support. Targeted at individual consumers seeking mental wellness self-care through voice-based self-reflection.
- Kintsugi Signal API REST API that detects synthetic and impersonated voices in real time for deepfake detection. Operates in signal-processing space to identify biological and cognitive artifacts absent in AI-generated speech, achieving near 100% accuracy. Designed for integration into call centers, videoconferencing platforms, and enterprise security systems.
Quantifiable outcome
- 96% patient screening rate within 6 weeks at Dreavita practice, up from 30% compliance with traditional PHQ-9
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Kintsugi
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Kintsugi technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
AI capability6 records
Feature6 records
Kintsugi partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.
- MicrosoftcoreSelected for Microsoft Pegasus Program, advancing innovation in healthcare AI. Program supports development and deployment of AI healthcare solutions.
- PegacoreISV partnership integrating Kintsugi Voice into Pega's healthcare and life sciences platform. With Kintsugi's software integrated with the Pega platform, providers and payers can address mental health on every call where Pega is used, potentially benefiting millions of Americans.
- Beam HealthcorePartnership to detect signs of depression in telehealth calls using Kintsugi's voice biomarker technology integrated with Beam Health's telehealth platform.
- Children's Hospital ColoradocoreClinical collaboration for voice journaling study with cystic fibrosis patients. Kintsugi Voice technology being studied for mental health monitoring in pediatric chronic illness populations.
- World Bank GroupcoreBRIDGE-MH initiative led by World Bank Group involves Kintsugi as a technology provider for AI-powered voice-based mental health screening in conflict-affected populations across Colombia, DRC, Jordan, Poland, and Uganda.
- UCSFsecondaryAcademic research partner collaborating on voice biomarker AI model training and validation through clinical trials.
- DreavitasecondaryMental health practice using Kintsugi Voice integrated with Zoom and Epic EHR systems for patient screening and clinical workflow enhancement.
- EpiccoreEHR integration partner enabling Kintsugi Voice to work within Epic electronic health record systems for healthcare providers.
- ZoomcoreTelehealth platform integration via SDK allowing Kintsugi Voice to analyze speech during Zoom video consultations for mental health screening.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Kintsugi competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Eleos Health: Voice AI for behavioral health clinicians, analyzing therapy sessions to surface clinical insights and documentation. Same voice-biomarker-in-healthcare thesis, narrower focus on therapist workflow.
- Ellipsis Health: Closest direct competitor — voice biomarker AI for anxiety and depression detection integrated into clinical workflows. Pursuing similar FDA SaMD pathway and selling to payers, providers, and digital health companies.
- Pindrop Security: Voice biometrics and deepfake detection for call centers and security applications. Direct comparison for Kintsugi's Signal API product, which addresses synthetic voice detection.
- Lyssn: Voice biomarker AI platform purpose-built for mental health measurement, focused on therapy session quality and outcomes research. Direct overlap in vocal biomarker analytics for behavioral health.
Broad incumbents
- Lyra Health: Enterprise mental health benefits platform serving employers with therapy, coaching, and medication services. Competes for the same large employer/payer contracts and integrates with similar health systems.
- Quartet Health: Value-based mental health platform partnering with payers and providers to coordinate behavioral care. Competes for the same payer-driven population health and care-gap closure use cases.
- Spring Health: Mental health benefits platform for employers and payers offering precision mental healthcare. Competes for the same payer/employer segment Kintsugi targeted, with broader care navigation plus provider network.
- Talkspace: Public telehealth mental health platform with B2B2C and direct consumer offerings. Overlaps with Kintsugi on telehealth voice-based screening integrations and consumer mental wellness.
- Headspace Health: Large consumer and B2B mental wellness platform (Headspace + Ginger). Overlaps with Kintsugi App on consumer voice journaling and competes for enterprise mental health budgets.
Emerging players
- Woebot Health: AI-powered mental health chatbot using NLP for CBT delivery. Adjacent in AI-for-mental-health but uses text/NLP rather than voice biomarkers; competes for the same payer/provider budget.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Kintsugi social profiles
Digital presenceKintsugi compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Kintsugi financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kintsugi leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Kintsugi funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds10 records
Investors20 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kintsugi M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Kintsugi
What does Kintsugi do?
Kintsugi develops and sells an API-first voice biomarker AI platform (Kintsugi Voice) that analyzes short clips of free-form speech for acoustic markers (pitch, intonation, tone, pauses) to detect signs of clinical depression and anxiety in real time. The core technology is offered as a REST API (Health API) for enterprise integration into clinical workflows, alongside a Signal API for deepfake detection, a Kintsugi Connect care coordination platform, and a consumer Kintsugi App for voice journaling and self-care.
Is Kintsugi a public or private company?
Kintsugi is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently closed.
When was Kintsugi founded?
Kintsugi was founded in 2019. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Kintsugi based?
Kintsugi is headquartered in Berkeley, United States, in the North America region.
How does Kintsugi make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Enterprise API Licensing is the primary driver. The others are consumer App and platform Integration Services.
Who are Kintsugi's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Eleos Health, Ellipsis Health, Pindrop Security and Lyssn. Broad incumbents are Lyra Health, Quartet Health, Spring Health, Talkspace and Headspace Health. Woebot Health is listed as an emerging player.
Does Kintsugi have an API?
Yes. Kintsugi offers two API products: (1) Health API - uses novel voice biomarkers in speech to identify signs of depression and anxiety in real time; integrates with call centers, telehealth systems, and remote patient monitoring apps. Returns clinically validated depression and anxiety insights from short clips of free-form speech. (2) Signal API - detects synthetic and impersonated voices for deepfake detection and security applications. Both APIs are REST-based, return predictions within approximately 20 seconds for 45-second audio files with at least 30 seconds of active speech, and require backend invocation to protect API keys. Developer documentation is at api.kintsugihealth.com.
What industry is Kintsugi in?
Kintsugi's product category is Mental Health Voice Biomarker AI. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLACAAAI, Speech Recognition, Dictation & Medical Transcription Platforms, with a secondary code of HDAAAFAL, Contact Center Speech AI (agent assist, IVR automation). Its NAICS code is 541519 and its SIC code is 7372.