PNN
New Delhi [India], June 17: Founded by serial entrepreneur and technologist Dinakara Nagalla, the US-headquartered platform begins with India, where the need is most acute, and is built on a thesis the category is not. Resolution, not management.
Menthra, an emotional wellbeing platform built on the thesis that people can work through what is weighing them down and get to the other side, today launched publicly in India as its first market, following a beta in which the platform grew to 30,000 users and a network of 500 therapists, coaches, and wellbeing professionals. The company was founded in late 2025 by Dinakara Nagalla, the serial entrepreneur and technologist behind EmpowerMX, which was acquired by Swedish enterprise software firm IFS in 2024. Nagalla is the author of Becoming Human: Embracing Imperfection and Finding Purpose, and the speaker behind the TEDx talk The Algorithm That Broke Me.
Headquartered in Frisco, Texas, with Indian operations through Menthra India Private Limited, the company is building from a global team across the United States and India, with India chosen deliberately as the first market. India is the largest underserved population for emotional wellbeing in the world, with clinical care scarce, stigmatized, and unaffordable for most, and millions of Indians turning to generic AI tools that were never designed for the task. The vision is global. The work begins where the need is most urgent.
A person can open Menthra at midnight, type in Hindi, Hinglish, or English, and have a conversation that picks up where the last one left off. There is no waitlist. There is no human reviewing what they say. Over time, the platform comes to understand the patterns of what they are working through, the language they use when they are struggling, and the support that has helped them most. Hindi, Hinglish, and regional languages are core to the product, not an afterthought.
Menthra meets users through a continuum of care.
- Companions. Everyday emotional support, available around the clock, with full anonymity.
- Coaches and mentors. Deeper work on growth, life transitions, and relationships.
- Menthra Care India. Clinical care, led by a clinical advisory board of NIMHANS-trained psychiatrists.
Most users will resolve what they are working through within the companion and coaching layers. For those who need clinical care, Menthra Care India provides a pathway. The same platform, deepening over time, meeting people at whatever layer of care fits their moment.
"Most platforms in this space help people cope. We built Menthra to help people resolve. For two decades I built systems that moved planes, money, and information around the world. But the systems people need for emotional wellbeing, care that meets them where they actually are, in the language they actually think in, at the hours they actually struggle, have never been built. Menthra is building that layer. We are starting in India because India needs it most. The vision is global because the gap is global."
Dinakara Nagalla, Founder and CEO of Menthra
Nagalla brings more than two decades of experience building mission-critical technology systems at global scale, spanning enterprise software, aviation, and large-scale operations. His book Becoming Human and his TEDx talk The Algorithm That Broke Me reflect the personal conviction behind the company.
India's emotional wellbeing landscape remains underserved. Professionals are concentrated in urban centers, leaving millions without affordable, accessible, or culturally relevant support. At the same time, large numbers of Indians are turning to generic AI tools for emotional conversations, tools that were never designed for the task and offer no continuity, no clinical grounding, and no pathway to deeper care when it is needed. Menthra is designed to address that gap with a purpose-built platform that prioritizes emotional wellbeing outcomes, multilingual accessibility, and culturally grounded support.
"Our work is to build the emotional wellbeing infrastructure that the world has not yet had. Care should be available whenever and wherever someone needs it. By combining intelligent companions, human expertise, and continuity across the journey, we can build a system that helps people move forward, not one that asks them to manage the same struggles indefinitely. We are starting in India because the need is most urgent here. The vision is global."
Dinakara Nagalla
During its beta, Menthra also began workplace wellbeing pilots with multiple Indian enterprises and established a clinical advisory board led by NIMHANS-trained psychiatrists. The company operates through Menthra India Private Limited and its parent company Menthra Inc., a Delaware C-Corporation headquartered in Frisco, Texas. A core team of approximately 35 operates across both India and the United States. HIPAA-aligned data practices are core to the platform's architecture.
The company plans to scale individual user adoption across India, expand workplace partnerships, grow its therapist and coaching network, introduce future offerings focused on youth and family wellbeing, and ultimately bring this model of care to other markets that face similar gaps in emotional wellbeing infrastructure.
About Menthra
Menthra is an emotional wellbeing platform built on the belief that people deserve resolution, not lifelong management. The platform meets users through a continuum of care, companions, coaches, mentors, and clinical care, with continuity at the center of the experience. Designed for India first, Menthra is available in Hindi, Hinglish, and regional languages, with full anonymity in companion conversations and HIPAA-aligned data practices throughout. Menthra was founded in 2025 by Dinakara Nagalla and operates across the United States and India.
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