Daring voices: jaron soh
Welcome to Daring Voices, our series spotlighting the founders in the Daring Capital community. In each edition, we sit down with a founder to hear their journey in their own words: from their origin story, to the challenges they’ve faced, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
This week, we talk to Jaron Soh, founder of Voda.
What problem is your business solving, and what inspired you to tackle it?
Voda is a mental health app created specifically for the LGBTQ+ community. Voda supports users in navigating issues like coming out, gender dysphoria, bullying, discrimination and online hate-challenges that are unique to LGBTQ+ people and often not addressed by mainstream mental health apps.
This is a deeply personal mission for me. I grew up in Singapore, where until recently, same-sex relationships were criminalised. The stigma and fear I internalised had a significant impact on my mental health. Voda was born from a desire to create the kind of support I wish I’d had growing up and to provide a lifeline for others who may be facing similar struggles.
Why does solving this problem matter to you personally?
Because I’ve lived it. I spent over 20 years in the closet, even from my own parents. That took a massive toll on my mental health: the anxiety, the shame, the isolation. These experiences aren't uncommon in our community and they leave long-term emotional scars.
Helping others avoid that kind of suffering - or at the very least giving them tools and community to navigate it - is what drives me. Voda exists to say: “You are not alone and there is support out there for you-right now.”
Why is now the right time to solve this problem?
We’re living through a surge in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment globally. In the US, over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in the past two years. In the UK, we’ve seen legal rulings that restrict trans people’s access to public spaces. Pride events are being banned in parts of Europe. Misinformation, moral panic and hate are spreading at an alarming rate.
There has never been a more urgent time to support LGBTQ+ mental health. People need resources to manage stress, build resilience and understand the systems that are impacting their wellbeing. They also need a safe, supportive space and that’s what Voda offers.
How does your solution stand out from existing alternatives?
Most mental health apps are designed for a general audience. They help you reduce anxiety, improve sleep, boost your mood. Voda goes further.
We provide those foundational tools but also dive into why LGBTQ+ people are struggling. We talk about the roots of stigma, discrimination, and internalised shame. We teach users how to cope with issues like misgendering, family rejection and hate speech.
Our Trans+ Library - the largest of its kind - is a free resource created by a team of trans therapists and community members. It covers everything, from social media trolling and exclusion from public spaces to transition-related anxiety and practical safety planning.
What does success look like to you, not just financially but in terms of impact?
Success, to us, means ensuring that every LGBTQ+ person - no matter where they live - has access to mental health support that understands them.
In five years, we aim to reach 7 million users. But beyond the numbers, success means helping people feel joyful, connected and seen. We want to shift the narrative around mental health from “fix what’s broken” to “build what’s meaningful”.
Ultimately, we hope to support a global movement towards collective care and empowerment, particularly in countries where it’s still illegal or dangerous to be openly LGBTQ+.
Have you ever had to choose between your mission and making a profit? What happened?
We haven’t had to choose, because from day one we’ve built a business where our mission is our model.
Unlike some mental health apps that monetise through data sales, Voda is privacy-first. Users control their data entirely and can delete it at any time. The app is free to use, with a paid tier (£8/month) for those who want to access more in-depth content and support.
Many of our users are happy to pay because they know it helps sustain a service that benefits the wider community. We’re proving that it’s absolutely possible to be ethical, impactful and financially sustainable at the same time.
What has been your biggest challenge so far, and how did you get through it?
The hardest challenge was coming out to my parents. Before launching Voda publicly, I knew I couldn’t lead an LGBTQ+ mental health company while still being in the closet at home. But coming out after two decades was terrifying.
Fundraising can be tough, but you can pitch to a hundred investors and keep going if they say no. With family, there’s no other door to knock on. Thankfully, I now have a great relationship with them. That experience gave me the courage and clarity to lead Voda authentically and it fuels everything I do.
What achievement are you most proud of to date?
The launch of our Trans+ Library. It’s now the largest free collection of resources designed by and for trans people, created by an incredible team of trans therapists, researchers and community members.
It includes modules on everything: from handling misgendering and online abuse to transitioning, exclusion, safety planning and managing anxiety in hostile environments. It has already supported thousands of users globally and we’ve heard from people who say it’s the first time they’ve felt truly understood.
What is your long-term vision for the business and the change you want to create?
Long-term, we want to radically reimagine what mental health support looks like not just for individuals, but at a systems level.
On a personal level, we want Voda to help users find more joy, meaning and fulfilment, not just “feel less anxious”. On a global scale, we hope to support LGBTQ+ activists and movements in countries where it's still illegal to be who you are.
We believe in a future where mental health tools also teach resilience, political literacy and collective care, because mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It's shaped by society and we want to help people both survive and change it.
What challenges have you faced raising investment, and how have you navigated them?
The biggest challenge in fundraising has been convincing some investors that our market is large enough. There's a misconception that LGBTQ+ people make up only 1–2% of the population – which just isn’t true.
Recent polling shows that 1 in 5 Gen Z Americans identify as LGBTQ+. But even that number is likely underestimated, especially in countries where coming out isn’t safe or legal. It’s like being left-handed: when it was stigmatised, it appeared rare until the stigma lifted.
We’ve spent a lot of time educating investors on the scale of the need, the depth of the market and why generalist solutions don’t work for this community. Voda isn’t a niche product: it’s solving a mainstream mental health crisis that’s long been ignored.
What advice would you give to other underrepresented founders just starting their fundraising journey?
First: don’t take rejection personally. There are countless reasons why an investor might say no and most of them have nothing to do with you.
Second: protect your belief in your company. Investors can sense it if you’ve started to doubt your idea and that’s often the real dealbreaker. Make sure you deeply believe in the value you’re creating. That conviction matters more than a perfect pitch deck.
And lastly: find your community. Speak to other founders. Join collectives. Learn from others’ journeys. You don’t have to do it alone.
What do you think needs to change about the fundraising ecosystem?
We need more diversity not just in founders, but in investors. At the moment, capital often flows towards people investors relate to. That’s usually unconscious bias, but it has real consequences.
We need more funders from different socioeconomic backgrounds, genders, ethnicities and sexualities, people who get the problems we’re solving because they’ve lived them too. And we need more open mentoring, more transparency and more access to knowledge about how to navigate funding.
That’s why I’m grateful for platforms like Daring Capital. You're helping level the playing field and that makes all the difference.
Discover more about Voda’s impactful work by checking out their website.
A big thank you to Jaron for generously sharing his story and perspective; stay tuned for the next post in the Daring Voices series next week
Jem
and the team at Daring Capital