Slingshot AI on 22 July formally released Ash, a text- and voice-based chatbot designed specifically for psychological therapy. The app, now available on iOS and Android, was trained on clinical data spanning more than 50 recognised modalities such as cognitive behavioural, dialectical behavioural and acceptance-and-commitment therapies. The company says Ash redirects users in crisis to human professionals and is intended to prod, not simply validate, users—an attempt to differentiate it from general-purpose models like ChatGPT. The launch follows an 18-month beta in which more than 50,000 people used the service. Slingshot’s co-founders, Casper mattress veteran Neil Parikh and AI engineer Daniel Cahn, claim the model’s focus on real therapeutic conversations allows it to surface weekly insights and long-term behavioural patterns while maintaining privacy protections. Slingshot also disclosed a $53 million Series A extension, bringing total financing to $93 million. Radical Ventures and Forerunner Ventures led the latest round, with earlier investors Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures returning. Management said the fresh capital will fund continued model training, safety reviews and expansion into employer and insurer channels after an initial free-to-consumer period.