London-based mental health startup Thalamos has raised £900,000 in seed funding to digitise the Mental Health Act.
The fundraise has been backed by the Conduit Impact EIS Fund managed by Ascension, angel investors including Syndicate Room and a private Seedrs crowdfund.
Founded in 2018 by cousins Arden and Ross Tomison, Thalamos gives people who are sectioned under the Mental Health Act quicker and safer access to vital treatment by enabling their care to be organised digitally.
It was inspired by the experience of a close friend who was sectioned. Countless paper forms had to be circulated and approved before his care could begin – leaving him waiting too long for help whilst in crisis.
Thalamos already works with seven mental health care providers, giving over 40,000 practitioners access to the digital tools needed to speed up access to care for those in crisis.
Using Thalamos instead of paper-based processes is reducing the risk of error by up to 89 per cent.
The funding will be used by Thalamos to expand their team and strengthen their product, helping them to support a growing number of mental health care providers as they work to better support patients, clinicians and systems.
Founder Arden Tomison said: “When an individual is sectioned under the Mental Health Act, they are in need of urgent treatment and support. Delays in accessing this can severely hamper recovery.
“The completion of Mental Health Act forms is an essential legal process that ensures patients receive the right treatment, safely; but no-one should have to wait for care when in crisis.
“At Thalamos, we’re working closely with mental health care providers across England to deliver a fully digitised solution which makes access to acute care swifter, simpler and safer.
“This is helping practitioners speed up the arrangement of patient admission, treatment and transfer, while increasing data security and care quality. We’re so grateful to our amazing group of investors for supporting us to expand our work to optimise the care accessed and received by a growing number of mental health care patients.”
Hadley Diest, investment manager at Ascension, will join Thalamos’ board as an independent advisor. She said: “Thalamos’ groundbreaking digital workflow tool enables those involved in patient intake, treatment, discharge and ongoing support to work together more seamlessly than ever before, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes and more efficient collaboration between the NHS, police, care providers and regulators.
“Further, as digital health is a focus area for the Conduit EIS Impact Fund, Thalamos represents a strong addition to our portfolio of companies that are both mission-driven and highly scalable in equal measure; Ascension and Conduit Connect look forward to supporting Arden and his superb team and advisors on this next stage of their growth within acute mental health and beyond.”