BOSTON & CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ieso, a UK leader in digital mental healthcare, today announces the completion of its $53 million Series B financing round led by investment firm Morningside, with further new investment from Sony Innovation Fund and existing shareholders IP Group, Molten Ventures and Ananda Impact Ventures.
Each year, 1 in 5 people experience a mental condition and depression is estimated to cost the global economy $1 trillion. At the same time, there are less than 4 mental health workers per 100,000 people in half the worlds’ countries. The growth in wellness and mental health apps aims to meet this demand, but there is currently a lack of clinically-evidenced digital therapeutics for treating diagnosed mental health conditions.
The funds raised will help ieso address this global mental health crisis by developing autonomous therapy systems that match the high standards of human care delivery, at significantly lower cost to health systems. These new tools could improve the lives of the 500 million people globally who struggle with their mental and behavioral health every day but cannot access appropriate personalized care.
ieso’s AI-enabled digital assessment tools and therapeutics for mental health conditions will build on the insights developed from the world’s largest outcomes-linked therapy dataset, which surpasses 460,000 hours. The data encompasses insight into, and treatment of, common mental health conditions including depression and anxiety and those linked with long term conditions such as diabetes.
ieso intends to seek regulatory approval for its autonomous digital tools in the US and UK ahead of bringing them to those markets. The company will extend its commercial teams to the US and target co-development and distribution partnerships that can facilitate scalable market access.
ieso will also continue to make its digital therapy service available to more than 20 million people in the UK via existing partnerships, including with the NHS. Working with its network of highly-qualified therapists and wellbeing practitioners, ieso will develop products that work in a real-world clinical setting and strive to maintain the continual recovery improvements it has seen over the past five years.
Commenting on the successful Series B financing, Nigel Pitchford, CEO of ieso, said: “At ieso, we’re looking to transform global mental health by unlocking the power of clinical data to develop AI-enabled digital therapeutics. Our experience delivering outstanding mental health care within the NHS ideally places us for starting to tackle this challenge. A new generation of clinically-validated digital mental health care products could ultimately improve millions of lives. But we cannot do this alone, and look forward to working with our patients, clinicians, investors, as well as existing and future partners, to better serve those who require mental health support.”
Stephen Bruso, Morningside Ventures, who also joins the Board, commented: “ieso’s advanced AI-driven digital therapeutics platform is further evidence of the power of data in the realm of mental health. By pairing one of the world’s largest databases in cognitive behavioural therapy, with sophisticated AI algorithms, ieso is delivering improved mental health care to patients with significant unmet need. We are proud to partner with them in this endeavor.”
Dr Andy Richards CBE, Chairman of ieso, added: “We are in a global mental health crisis. There are simply not enough clinicians to assess and treat the growing number of people who need help. Whilst we have seen an explosion in the number of mobile apps to help address mental health conditions, there is an urgent need for true digital therapeutics which have been approved for treating patients. Through the support of our investors, who share our purpose, we’ll continue on our mission of combining clinical expertise, data science and technology to enable better and more accessible mental healthcare.”
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Notes to editors
About ieso
ieso is the UK’s leading digital mental healthcare and therapeutics business. It is addressing the global mental health crisis by developing clinically evidenced assessment and treatment products that enable everyone with a common mental health condition to recover.
ieso uses technology and data science to better understand, prevent, detect, and treat mental health conditions. Its core product offers AI-powered, therapist-delivered, digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). With a growing network of 600 fully qualified therapists, ieso serves more than 20 million adults through the UK National Health Service (NHS).
By analysing over 500 million data points contained in the world’s largest outcome-linked mental health dataset, ieso’s AI and data research teams are decoding the active components of therapy and enabling ground-breaking approaches for digital therapeutics (DTx). They have already created AI tools that review therapy sessions to highlight suboptimal treatment and drive improved patient recovery outcomes.
ieso is developing new digital therapeutic products that will support the transformation needed in mental healthcare. The work spans automated mental health assessment products and new digital therapeutic solutions. The short-term ambition is to bring a rolling pipeline of regulatory-approved autonomous digital assessment and treatment products to the UK and US markets.
For more information, visit www.iesogroup.com and connect with us on Twitter @IesoHealth and LinkedIn.
About the global mental health crisis
With 1 in 4 people in the UK, and 1 in 5 in the US, having a diagnosable mental health condition and less than half of those affected receiving treatment, the need for clinically evidenced recovery based digital therapies has never been more pressing.
Poor mental health is a leading cause of disability worldwide. On any given day, around 500 million people meet the criteria for a common mood disorder, with over 264 million people affected by depression alone.
Two of the most common mental health conditions, depression and anxiety, cost the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year. Despite these figures, the global median of government health expenditure that goes to mental health is less than 2%.
In addition, the link between poor mental health and deteriorating physical health especially in long term conditions such as diabetes is well established, and adds an even greater imperative to effective mental health treatment.
About digital therapeutics
Digital therapeutics (DTx) are regulatory-approved, evidence-based therapeutic interventions driven by software to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease. DTx are predicted to be a $56 billion global opportunity by 2025.
DTx look to treat chronic and behavioral conditions, which account for the majority of healthcare spending. Examples of interventions include mobile health and wellness apps that replace or complement the existing treatment of a disease. They are distinct from the broader digital health sector due to a focus on demonstrating proof of concept and seeking regulatory approvals prior to entering the market.
