Workit Health Secures $1.1M Seed Funding to Advance AI-Driven Addiction Recovery Solutions

Workit Health, a digital startup focused on addiction recovery, recently secured $1.1 million in seed funding. The round was led by Montage Ventures and Lux Capital, with participation from Invest Detroit Ventures’ First Step Fund, Wakestream Ventures (the venture arm spun out of Start Garden), and Impact Engine.

Workit Health was founded in January 2015, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Lisa McLaughlin and Robin McIntosh.The company’s core business is to leverage technological advancements or design innovations to identify addiction treatments that offer greater precision in efficacy and are more affordable for patients.

Lisa McLaughlin has extensive management experience in digital health and big data learning enterprises, along with seven years of academic experience in psychiatry, information science, and social practice. Robin McIntosh is a seasoned entrepreneur, designer, and technology expert. She has founded multiple companies and, over the past decade, has gained work experience in startups, brand consulting, and the business community, demonstrating strong insights in the consumer and general health sectors.

Co-Founder Lisa McLaughlin 

Co-founder Robin McIntosh

The company currently has 200 consultants and online support staff, as well as partners in the rehabilitation community. In states where telemedicine laws are very lenient and clinic connectivity rates are very high, such as Michigan, Workit Health is widely used. After financing, the company will continue to expand its team size, hiring more addiction counselors, software engineers, and sales representatives, with the aim of establishing stronger relationships directly with addiction patients.

Workit Health’s first product is a 90-day digital program designed to help individuals overcome alcohol, drug, and other behavioral addictions. Patients can access personalized, precision-based online counseling services from certified professionals via computer or tablet. Workit Health has now made this resource publicly available.

Unlike traditional addiction recovery treatment programs, Workit Health’s technological core lies in collecting large-scale, evidence-based rehabilitation data—such as Motivational Interviewing (MI), Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Brief Interventions (BI), and other mental health therapies. Leveraging proprietary machine learning algorithms, it delivers personalized addiction treatment plans tailored to each patient’s needs and circumstances. It is not intended as a substitute for traditional rehabilitation treatments.

Why Enter the Addiction Recovery Industry? Co-founder Robin McIntosh underwent traditional addiction treatment at the age of 22, while Lisa McLaughlin brings 15 years of immersive experience in the recovery community. She explains that their goal is to provide patients with highly precise, customized treatment recommendations and a high-standard diagnostic experience—something unattainable through previous diagnostic approaches.

Workit Health has engaged in collaborative projects with Los Angeles-based Healthbox Studio. In 2015, the company was named “Winner in Information Technology” at an innovation competition in Michigan. Previously a tenant of the non-profit organization Ann Arbor SPARK, Workit Health received substantial support in funding, technology, and talent during its early stages. Throughout its entrepreneurial journey, the company benefited from expert assistance and strategic resource referrals from professional institutions such as the University of Michigan School, Behavioral Health and Addiction Recovery, and Beacon Health Strategies.

For investors, Workit Health has attracted capital attention due to its novel model and expanding profit margins. Todd Kimmel, Managing Partner at Montage Ventures, stated that since investing in Workit Health, they have consistently received substantial positive feedback from the market, including employers, taxpayers, and healthcare institutions. The strong interest from capital markets stems from Workit Health’s precise identification of patient needs and its deployment of advanced intelligent algorithms to deliver an innovative approach to addiction rehabilitation treatment—a feat unattainable by conventional rehabilitation models.