TCD mental health spinout company SilverCloud Health said it has raised $8.1m (€7.65m) in Series A funding, mostly from venture capital firm B Capital Group, founded by Raj Ganguly and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
SilverCloud Health provides online therapeutic solutions to improve behavioural health and mental wellness. Since its launch in 2012 it has supported over 80,000 patients, and says it has delivered clinical results that are on a par with face-to-face therapy.
SilverCloud is a spin-out company from the Technology Enhanced Therapy project, a four-year research project by the National Digital Research Centre, Trinity College’s School of Computer Science, and the Mater Hospital. The company secured €1.5m seed investment in 2013 from Investec, DBIC and Enterprise Ireland.
The company attracted a further €1.7m investment in 2015 in a second round of seed funding from Investec, DBIC, NDRC, ACT Venture Capital and EI.
B Capital Group has invested $5 million. Also participating in the latest funding round are ACT Venture Capital, Investec Ventures and AIB Seed Capital Fund.
In Association with
Silvercloud Health's accumulated losses at the end of March 2016 stood at €4.1 million after the company booked a loss of €2.1 million in 2015/16. Remuneration for 23 staff including directors was €1.55 million, an average of €67,350 per person.
CEO Ken Cahill (pictured) said the company is defining a new healthcare model to meet the demands of the rapidly growing behavioural healthcare market. “This new investment enables us to drive forward with our commitment to evolve our health platform and address the ever-increasing global need in behavioural healthcare," said Cahill.
"We believe that technology is the enabler to address the biggest healthcare challenge of this century, maximising clinical delivery while enhancing patient access and choice, through the ability to engage with therapy at a time that fits into diverse lifestyles and through devices that are a part of our everyday lives.
“We chose B Capital to lead our Series A because of their healthcare knowledge and relationships, and due to their partnership with the Boston Consulting Group, which has opened doors for us to new commercial partners in the US.”
Track Record
Eduardo Saverin commented: "Our investment in SilverCloud Health is driven by our confidence in its team, its proven track record working with global health organisations and its esteemed partner network. This new capital will enable SilverCloud Health to continue to innovate, expand and broadly deploy its programmes to the millions of individuals who need them.”
The SilverCloud platform is used by over 120 healthcare organisations in Europe and North America. In Britain’s NHS, the company has gone from supporting 1% of NHS mental health services two years ago to over 45% today.
John O’Sullivan, partner at ACT Venture Capital, said: “We’ve seen SilverCloud’s impact on patients and clinicians. Patients have seen it transform their daily lives , with a therapy they can control, and clinicians have been able to rapidly integrate it into clinical pathways. The efficacy data is compelling and is evident across a very large and diverse range of cases.’’
At present the company offers 22 programmes addressing conditions such as depression, anxiety and stress, as well as long-term chronic conditions (diabetes, COPD, and cardiovascular disease).
