Healios – a UK online therapy platform for children and young people with mental health and neurodiverse conditions – has raised GBP7 million in a Series A round led by InHealth Ventures with participation from existing investors AlbionVC.
The funding will enable Healios to widen its provision and meet the significant and rising demand for mental health support among children and young people. Currently, one-in-eight (12.8 per cent) five-to-19 year olds in the UK have a mental health disorder but two-thirds are unable to access NHS care because of soaring demands and long waiting lists. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified demand even further.
Healios will use the new GBP7 million Series A funding to invest in new assessment and treatment programmes, enabling it to make even more services available to the NHS and health organisations. The company will also expand its AI, machine learning and data science expertise, adding to a team whose headcount has already grown by 116 per cent since early 2020. In addition, Healios will be accelerating plans to expand internationally later this year.
InHealth Ventures and InHealth Group Chair, Richard Bradford, will be joining the Healios board, alongside Cat McDonald of AlbionVC.
Rich Andrews, Founder and CEO of Healios, says: “The UK is facing a mental health crisis. Demand far outsrips supply and technology has a vital role to play in closing that gap. We’re immensely proud of the lives we’ve already changed through Healios. This funding will help us reach more families in need and enable us to develop further sector-leading interventions and therapies. By bringing together clinical experts and giving them the tools to reach their patients regardless of where they are, we are closing the access gap which has plagued mental health provision for far too long.
“We’re delighted to bring such esteemed investors onto the team as we deepen our clinical provision and expand our global reach. Both InHealth Ventures and existing investors AlbionVC bring with them highly specialised knowledge when it comes to navigating health systems and scaling innovative healthcare technologies.”
Dr Ben Evans, Managing Director of InHealth Ventures, says: “Healios is a standard bearer for healthcare innovation. They bring together clinical excellence with digital expertise, working in partnership with the NHS to address a critical, but complex area of care delivery. Healios’ work to date speaks for itself; their holistic approach to diagnosis and treatment has had a substantive impact on clinical outcomes and patient experience. We’re thrilled to have led this round and are excited to partner with the Healios team as they continue their pioneering and hugely important work.”
