Trinity College Dublin: SilverCloud Health raises $8.1 million 2017 January 20

SilverCloud - Making Space for Healthy Minds. Silvercloud’s foundations are in academic research from Trinity College Dublin, the Mater Hospital and the National Digital Research Centre.

©Irish Times on January 18th 2017

SilverCloud Health, an Irish technology firm that provides online therapy and wellness programmes, has raised $8.1 million (€7.57 million) in a Series A funding round led by a venture capital firm established by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.

A spin-out from a collaborative project between the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC), Mater University Hospital and Trinity College Dublin, SilverCloud was established following over 10 years of advanced clinical and academic research.

The company’s cloud-based platform enables healthcare organisations to deliver a broad range of evidence-based clinical content, programmes and support in the areas of mental health and chronic/long-term illness.

Officially established in 2012, SilverCloud has supported over 80,000 patients worldwide with its programmes, which are seen to deliver clinical results that are on a par with face-to-face therapy.

The company, which is led by founder and chief executive Ken Cahill, previously raised €1.5 million in funding in 2013. B Capital, a VC company founded by Mr Saverin and Raj Ganguly, led the latest investment round with participation from ACT Venture Capital and returning investors, Investec, the AIB Seed Capital Fund, which is managed by the Dublin Business Innovation Centre, NDRC and Enterprise Ireland.

Mr Cahill said the multiple-award winning firm intends to use the investment to accelerate delivery of its programmes in North America and Europe.

“Reinvestment in research is critical to our success. We’ve 15 major clinical trials running around the world currently and want to continue with validation and building out our health platform,” he told The Irish Times.

More than 120 healthcare organisations are using SilverCloud’s platform across six countries. Customers include insurers, universities, mental health-focused charities such as Aware, the UK Ministry of Defence and the National Health Service (NHS). Within the NHS alone, the company has grown from supporting 1 per cent of mental health services two years ago to over 40 per cent currently.

Dr Gavin Doherty, is one of SilverCloud's founders and scientific advisors. Gavin's specialties include healthcare technologies, visual design and information visualization. Gavin is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin and widely published and experienced in the area of technology for mental health.