Cíngulo

What Cíngulo does

Cíngulo is a Brazilian digital mental health company headquartered in Porto Alegre, founded in 2016 by psychiatrist and neuroscientist Diogo Lara alongside co-founder Gustavo Ottoni. Its core product is a mobile application available on iOS and Android that delivers daily emotional care through AI-assisted modules: a free emotional profile test created by neuroscientists, science-based practical sessions covering topics from anxiety to self-esteem, and SOS techniques for crisis moments. In 2025 the company extended its offering with Sensing, a digital-retreat sub-brand at besensing.com that layers AI wellness, community, and personalized experiences onto the Cíngulo methodology.

The company operates a freemium direct-to-consumer model, using the emotional profile test as the top-of-funnel acquisition hook and relying on app-store distribution and user testimonials for demand generation. Following a seed investment from DNA Capital in March 2022, Cíngulo began adapting its product for corporate wellness programs (B2B) and disclosed plans to enter the United States as its first international market beyond Brazil. The platform has accumulated over 3 million registered users and millions of downloads, supported by recognition including Google Play Best App of 2019 (Brazil), Apple feature placement, and endorsements from PNUD/UN, Impact Hub, Apex-Brasil, Endeavor, and Amcham. Founder Diogo Lara's clinical credentials — MD in psychiatry, PhD in neuroscience, 15+ years as a researcher, 160+ published scientific articles, and best-selling author status — anchor the product's methodology.

Name

Cíngulo

Legal name

Cíngulo

Website

https://cingulo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cíngulo is a Brazilian digital mental health platform offering an AI-assisted mobile app for emotional well-being, providing emotional profiling, practical sessions, and crisis support to individual consumers while expanding into corporate wellness programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Mental Health

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Medication Adherence, Digital Therapeutics & Remote Coaching (condition-specific programs) (HLALAFAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) & Wellbeing Digital Curriculum (EDAFACAM), Health, Wellness & Patient Communities (MPACAJAL)

Keywords

• Digital mental health
• Emotional wellness app
• Mobile therapy platform
• AI emotional care
• Corporate wellness program

Headquarters

HQ city

Porto Alegre

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Freemium Mobile App: The app offers a free emotional profile test as a top-of-funnel acquisition tool. Full access to sessions, SOS techniques, and deeper features likely operates on a subscription model after the free entry point.
2. Corporate/B2B Licensing: Post-seed investment, Cíngulo is adapting its product for the corporate market, suggesting a B2B licensing or enterprise subscription revenue stream targeting corporate wellness programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Cíngulo offers a mobile-first digital emotional care platform distributed as a consumer app on iOS and Android, providing a free neuroscientist-created emotional profile test as the entry point, science-based practical sessions on topics such as anxiety, self-esteem, focus, and insecurity, and SOS emotional support techniques for crisis moments. The company also operates Sensing, a digital retreat sub-brand combining generative-AI wellness, real community, and tailored experiences for deeper emotional reconnection.

Product overview

Cíngulo is a digital mental health platform offering a mobile app (available on iOS and Android) with multiple integrated modules. The core Cíngulo App provides daily emotional care through practical sessions, an AI-assisted emotional profile test, and SOS techniques for crisis moments. The platform has evolved to include Sensing, a digital retreat combining AI wellness, community, and personalized experiences. The product portfolio includes standalone features (emotional profile test, practical sessions, SOS techniques) that work within the unified app experience, serving both individual consumers and corporate markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sensing: Digital retreat offering deeper reconnection through AI-powered well-being, real community, and experiences tailored to one's moment.

Products and services

• Cíngulo App A digital emotional care mobile app for individual consumers, offering a free neuroscientist-created emotional profile test, science-based practical sessions covering anxiety, stress, self-esteem, focus, and insecurity, and SOS emotional support techniques for crisis moments. Designed for adults seeking accessible, science-based mental health support outside traditional therapy.
• Sensing A digital retreat experience representing the evolution of the Cíngulo platform, combining generative-AI wellness technology, real community engagement, and personalized experiences tailored to the user's current emotional state. Targeted at consumers seeking deeper emotional reconnection beyond the core app experience.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 3 million registered users on the platform
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Sanvello: Sanvello is a digital mental health app offering coaching, therapy, and self-guided emotional care content, with strong employer/insurance distribution. It is a direct competitor in the consumer-and-employer mental wellness category where Cingulo is positioning with its B2B pivot.
• Wysa: Wysa is an AI conversational mental wellness app using text-based CBT-style support for anxiety, stress, and self-esteem—very similar in approach and use case to Cingulo's AI-driven emotional profile and SOS sessions. It also targets employer B2B channels, making it a direct comparator for Cingulo's corporate pivot.
• Zenklub: Zenklub is a Brazilian digital mental health platform connecting users to therapists and offering emotional wellness content. It is Cingulo's closest regional competitor given shared geography (Brazil), shared target audience (Portuguese-speaking consumers), and overlapping product surface of digital therapy and emotional well-being.
• Woebot Health: Woebot delivers AI-powered cognitive behavioral therapy via chat for emotional and mental health support. Both products use AI conversational interfaces to deliver structured emotional care for self-help use cases, making Woebot a direct AI-mental-wellness peer to Cingulo's AI emotional profile and sessions.

Broad incumbents

• Talkspace: Talkspace provides online therapy and mental health services to both consumers and enterprise/B2B customers via subscription. Its dual D2C+B2B model and emphasis on accessible therapy parallel Cingulo's hybrid consumer/corporate strategy in mental health.
• Calm: Calm is a leading consumer mental wellness app offering meditation, sleep, and stress content on a freemium subscription model. It targets the same anxiety/stress/self-care use cases as Cingulo but at vastly greater scale and global reach, making it the most direct competitive benchmark for Cingulo's D2C motion.
• BetterHelp: BetterHelp is the largest online therapy marketplace connecting users to licensed therapists. Cingulo explicitly positions against the high cost and time burden of traditional therapy, making BetterHelp the relevant incumbent benchmark for accessibility and self-service alternatives to one-on-one therapy.
• Headspace: Headspace provides guided mindfulness, therapy, and emotional well-being content across B2C and B2B (Headspace for Work). It is one of the most established consumer mental wellness platforms and a direct competitive benchmark as Cingulo expands into corporate wellness and English-speaking markets.

Emerging players

• Youper: Youper is an AI emotional health assistant using CBT and mindfulness techniques to help users manage anxiety, depression, and emotional well-being. It is an emerging AI-mental-wellness peer comparable to Cingulo's AI emotional profile and sessions product.
• Moodfit: Moodfit is a mental health and emotional wellness app focused on tracking, courses, and tools for anxiety, depression, and self-care. It overlaps with Cingulo's practical-sessions and self-care positioning as an emerging player in the digital emotional well-being category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cíngulo