Ieso Digital Health, the UK’s largest provider of online mental healthcare, today announced the successful closure of an £18 million funding round to accelerate growth in its home market and the commercialisation of its transformative technology platform in the US. The funding round is the largest amount raised by a digital behavioural health business in Europe.
Ieso is already transforming mental health delivery in the UK, by making high quality, evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) available to more than 9 million people. Ieso is available through the NHS as part of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). Relative to international duration of treatment, Ieso is able to increase the speed at which people recover in treatment by as much as 50%.
By the end of 2017, more than 100,000 therapy hours will have been delivered, making Ieso the UK’s largest provider of online CBT. Ieso’s published and auditable outcomes have been consistently superior to NHS averages in the most commonly presenting mental health conditions. Ieso’s breakthrough service has recently been introduced in the US. The business has assembled one of the most experienced mental healthcare management teams to drive adoption in both markets comprising world class data scientists, renowned Artificial Intelligence development experts, first class clinicians, outstanding therapists and highly experienced executive leadership.
Speaking about this announcement CEO Dan Clark commented “This financing is a great vote of confidence in Ieso’s ability to become a global leader in mental health delivery and our technology which lies at the intersection of online evidence-based CBT, dynamic artificial intelligence learning, real time therapist support and mobile accessibility, ultimately creating high quality, accessible CBT therapy. Up to 60% of people in the US alone have unmet behavioral health needs. This presents a major opportunity for Ieso to make a radical impact on healthcare outcomes and costs. With our technology and clinical data science we are simultaneously improving patient outcomes and reducing costs to the healthcare system.”
This funding round introduces leading venture capital investor Draper Esprit to the company, who co-led this round, committing £7.5 million alongside existing investor Touchstone Innovations, who invested £8 million.
The round will have two closes to permit investment from other current investors including a number of significant UK business angels and the Ananda Social Venture Fund, whose Investment Director, Lennart Hergel added “The Ieso story is a textbook example of social impact investment working in partnership with commercial technology funding as the company scales.”
Commenting on the partnership with Draper, Ieso CEO Dan Clark notes: “Draper Esprit's reputation in digital health is second to none and we are delighted to have them on board with us at this pivotal stage in our development. As one of Europe’s most active sector investors, their experience and track record in developing growth stage businesses mean that they will contribute as true partners for the journey ahead.”
Dr Vishal Gulati, VC Partner at Draper Esprit said: “Ieso is a perfect example of the kind of company we like to invest in in the digital health space. It has a proven and experienced management team; a strong clinical platform; strict adherence to the evidence base; and a scalable model that is delivering strong outcomes with high levels of quality control. We have been watching their progress for some time and their data science approach is very impressive. We are really pleased to be working with Dan and his team and with Touchstone and Ananda our co-investors in this round.”
Inga Deakin, Principal at Touchstone Innovation commented: “Since our first investment in 2013, Touchstone has supported the company from early traction in the NHS, which has a world-leading CBT delivery infrastructure and ambitious targets for delivery of treatment to patients. The Company has outstanding clinical quality and, with over 16,700 patients treated, has built ground breaking data science and artificial intelligence capabilities to leverage that clinical experience and continue to improve health outcomes. We are delighted our initial faith and investment thesis has been confirmed by an experienced investor such as Draper to join us in the next phase of growth.”
This is a significant milestone for Ieso Digital Health and allows it to accelerate commercialisation and product development activities to better serve the millions of patients currently unable to access high quality, clinically - proven mental health care in the community.