AmaRise Blends AI and Human Touch in Wellness
Sep 6, 2024
David Brennan MBA
Building a great SaaS product is hard. Building one that delivers human care, emotional trust, and real-time connection — that’s a whole different level.
That’s exactly the challenge Dr. Dumebi Owa, founder of AmaRise, is solving. AmaRise is a wellness platform that combines holistic healing modalities with AI-driven personalization — offering users a one-stop shop for alternative care like herbalism, mindfulness coaching, astrology, and more.
But this isn’t just a marketplace.
It’s a living, evolving experience where AI supports, not replaces, the human side of healing. And making that vision work — at scale — is no easy feat.
“We’re not just matching users with practitioners. We’re supporting their full wellness journey — emotionally, physically, even spiritually — with the right mix of automation and personal care.”
In our SaaS Founder Stories interview, Dr. Dumebi broke down how she’s balancing high-tech tools with high-touch care, what she’s learned about user behavior, and where the product’s going next.
Building for Burnout: The Market Need Behind AmaRise
AmaRise serves two audiences:
B2B: forward-thinking employers looking to support team wellness in industries like tech, finance, and creative services
B2C: individuals who are, as she put it, “sick and tired of being sick and tired”
These are people seeking holistic care beyond what traditional healthcare or one-size-fits-all therapy can offer — and they need help navigating a world of options.
“Our job is to take the stress out of the search. We guide you to the right modality — and we grow with you as your needs change.”
What makes the platform work is the blend of an intelligent digital experience (powered by an AI assistant named Ari) and real human relationships with trained practitioners. But making those two things play nicely together? That was the hard part.
The Challenge: Balancing Human Touch and Scalable Tech
“We had to prioritize the emotional connection — while building a system that could scale like a tech company,” Dumebi said.
In wellness, empathy can’t be an afterthought. At the same time, they needed AI to handle data, guide decision-making, and respond to users in real time.
So AmaRise built a layered experience:
A detailed onboarding assessment to understand each user’s needs
An AI assistant (Ari) to manage triage, tracking, and suggestions
Human coordinators and wellness coaches to ensure real-time, real-person guidance
Ongoing check-ins and feedback loops to improve personalization over time
And all of that needed to be simple.
“The biggest UX shift for us was breaking things down one step at a time. We made the process digestible — because wellness can feel overwhelming.”
How They Use AI to Improve, Not Replace, Connection
The AI layer in AmaRise isn’t there to automate care — it’s there to support better care.
They use it to:
Match users with practitioners based on their needs
Surface new modalities at the right moments
Analyze session data and platform usage
Flag feedback and scale insights across the team
“Everything from chats to sessions is tracked — not just for outcomes, but to improve the experience. AI helps us listen.”
They also use a mix of quantitative and qualitative data to decide what to build next. Structured surveys help track trends, but they’re also running the platform like a living case study — reviewing feedback and practitioner input weekly to guide product evolution.
The Surprise Insight: Community Matters More Than They Thought
One of the most unexpected insights came directly from users: people weren’t just coming for access to practitioners — they were craving community.
“We thought matching and care plans would be the biggest drivers. But what people really wanted… was connection. A space to share and be seen.”
Now AmaRise is reprioritizing their roadmap to elevate community-building across the platform — creating new ways for users to connect with each other, not just providers.
It’s a good reminder for all of us: you can’t always guess what matters most to your users. You have to listen.
What’s Next for AmaRise
Over the next six months, Dr. Dumebi and her team are focused on three big things:
Expanding their global reach beyond the U.S., starting with Canada
Scaling the human side of their platform without losing quality or care
Hiring AI engineers who understand both machine learning and wellness
And like many early-stage founders, she’s also navigating the chaos of fundraising, investor relations, and product strategy — all at once.
“It’s 50% human, 50% tech. And we’re trying to scale both.”
If you know an AI engineer with a unique background — someone who gets both technology and the sensitivity needed for wellness — AmaRise is looking.
Book a Free AI Assessment if you're building a product that relies on high-touch service and want to streamline your business operations without losing quality. We’ll help you identify where AI can reduce manual load, improve consistency, and build a scalable foundation behind the care your users trust.
