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Image credits: ieso

Cambridge-based ieso, a digital mental healthcare company, announced that it has raised $53M (€47M) funding in a Series B round led by investment firm Morningside. 

The UK company also got new investment from Sony Innovation Fund and existing shareholders like IP Group, Molten Ventures, and Ananda Impact Ventures. 

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Fund utilisation

The funds will enable ieso to develop autonomous therapy systems at a significantly lower cost. The company  says the new tools could improve the lives of the 500M people globally who struggle with their mental and behavioural health every day but cannot access appropriate personalised care.

Commenting on the successful Series B financing, Nigel Pitchford, CEO of ieso, says, “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.”

Treating mental health

ieso uses technology and data science to better understand, prevent, detect, and treat mental health conditions. The company’s core product offers AI-powered, therapist-delivered, digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). 

The digital assessment tools and therapeutics 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 said in a press release. 

With a growing network of 600 qualified therapists, ieso serves more than 20M adults through the UK National Health Service (NHS).

Dr. Andy Richards, CBE, Chairman of ieso, adds “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.”

Seeking approval

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 plans to extend its commercial teams to the US and target co-development and distribution partnerships to scale its product.

ieso will also continue to make its digital therapy service available to more than 20M people in the UK via existing partnerships, including with the NHS. 

Investors

Based out of New York, Morningside Venture Partners focuses on partnering with talented entrepreneurs to develop the next wave of truly great companies.

Stephen Bruso of Morningside Ventures, who also joins the Board, says,  “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.”