Platform Providing Top Online Relationship Experts Names Dr. Orna Guralnik as Chief Clinical Officer
OurRitual Secures New Round of VC Funding Expected to Fuel New Products and Further Adoption

NEW YORK, July 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- OurRitual, a fast-growing platform focused on helping and healing the relationships of everyday couples through its network of professional experts and digital tools, named renowned clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, Dr. Orna Guralnik as the company's Chief Clinical Officer. OurRitual (formerly known as HeyRitual), also announced today a seed round of $5.2 million in funding that is expected to further bolster the platform's growth, which already saw a 970% increase in users over the past year.

Dr. Guralnik is widely known for starring in the popular docuseries Couples Therapy, where she deftly guides couples through real-life therapy sessions. Season four recently debuted and is currently available to stream on Paramount+ with the SHOWTIME plan. COUPLES THERAPY won the Television Critics Association (TCA) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming in 2021 and the American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Non-Scripted Series in 2024. The series has garnered additional award nominations from the International Documentary Association, 2023 TCA Awards, Cinema Eye Honor Awards and Critics' Choice Real TV Awards.

Dr. Guralnik also serves on the faculty at NYU and the National Institute of Psychology, and is the co-founder of the Center for the Study of Dissociation and Depersonalization at the Mount Sinai Medical School. She lectures and publishes on couples therapy treatments and culture. A graduate of the NYU Post Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis, she practices in New York City.

OurRitual represents an alternative to traditional couples therapy. Instead of the standard model of a 50 minute session once per week, OurRitual combines bitesize impactful sessions with professionals with a host of digital support tools. The OurRitual model empowers couples to work on their relationship skills in between sessions which maximizes the overall impact and speed of change. The relationship experts conduct short and impactful video sessions, ranging from 20-40 minutes, with the couple or an individual already in a relationship. The company's data demonstrates that this model, which encourages users to deal directly with the obstacles they are facing in a more condensed session, saves considerable time and expense. Moreover, it has been proven to yield the same improvements in just one month with OurRitual as opposed to after 3 months in more conventional therapy.

The platform currently offers the services of more than 50 highly trained relationship experts on its digital platform, allowing couples to integrate new ideas and practices in between sessions, with informative content and personalized recommendations delivered via video and text. 

"I am delighted with the growth we've seen at OurRitual over the past year and in which we provided over 15,000 sessions for our members," said David Pruwer, co-founder and CEO of OurRitual. "Today's inspiring news about Dr. Orna Guralnik, combined with our new round of investment, is testament to the growing interest in an alternative to more traditional therapy for both couples and individuals looking to build their relationships into their full potential."

OurRitual just completed a $5.2M Seed round, led by Venrex (one of the leading global consumer funds). Together with its initial pre-seed funding of $2 million, this takes OurRitual's total funding to $7.2M. This latest funding round comes from both original investors along with a range of diverse new investors including FJ Labs, Active Partners, GroundUp Ventures, 97212 Ventures, and two respected angel investors including David Siegel (former CEO of MeetUp) and Michelle Kennedy (CEO of Peanut, and board advisor/director of Bumble). Others who participated include Samsung, Learn VC, Gaingels, Tiferes Ventures, Ventures Together, Liebenthal Ventures, Rose Street Capital, JJ Hodari and Tamar Lifschitz. The funding will be used to expand services and invest in expanding the range of products OurRitual offers its users.

"In recent years, we've observed a broad increase in the demand for therapy, particularly couples therapy. While traditional solutions exist, we believe that OurRitual offers a significantly better customer experience. By increasing personalization and convenience, OurRitual makes effective support much more accessible." said Tom Fleming, Managing Partner at Venrex, who have backed a number of major consumer brands including JustEAT, Revolut, Maven and Charlotte Tilsbury. "We are excited by the traction that OurRitual is seeing. Coupled with their scalable model, we believe there is huge headroom for growth across North America, Europe and worldwide."

Based on several thousands of OurRitual's users surveyed, the company also revealed the top six issues couples are facing today are:

1. Communication issues
2. Overcoming infidelity
3. Long-distance relationships
4. Managing conflicts more effectively
5. Relationship Viability
6. Improving sexual intimacy

"What's interesting here is that this new data shows that it all comes back to communication or the lack thereof, and unfortunately, that often correlates to infidelity," according to Dr. Guralnik.  "The fact that nearly half of OurRitual's members have never participated in traditional therapy before, is a sign that they are tapping a large and underserved audience." 

The Ritual app has helped more than 2,000 relationships over the past year, 80% who are US based. Additionally, 75% of OurRitual's users are in urban populations, which also means they provide top-tier support in areas that have limited resources. While a traditional therapy session can cost up to $200 per session, OurRitual weekly sessions and access to the platform cost from $100-$260 a month. The company's relationship experts are based around the world and speak a variety of languages to cater to all users and their respective cultures and backgrounds.

About OurRitual:

OurRitual is a digital platform that transforms the way people strengthen and grow their relationships. By offering a cadre of respected and diverse global relationship experts, combined with the latest technology providing tailored recommendations and monitoring progress, our members are able to integrate new ideas and practices into their lives, creating their own very special couples ritual. For more information, or to identify an expert who's right for you, visit our website at www.ourritual.com/.

Media Contacts:
Alyssa Meyer
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VP of Operations, Thunder11
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Amber Ewart
Head of Growth, OurRitual
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