
What You Should Know:
– Toronto-based digital mental health and wellness platform, LifeSpeak raises $42M CAD in minority equity investment to accelerate its global growth trajectory.
– The platform, offered remotely to employees and health plan members, covers topics such as preventative health, mental health (including depression, anxiety, addiction, isolation, suicide, etc.), marital and relationship advice, parenting, and eldercare.
LifeSpeak Inc., a Toronto, ON-based digital education platform for employee mental health and wellness, today announced a $42 million CAD minority equity investment from Round13 Growth Fund, Kensington Capital Partners, and Roynat Capital. LifeSpeak is raising its first institutional funding round to accelerate its global growth trajectory.
Addressing Employees’ Total Well-Being
LifeSpeak’s software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) platform of more than 2,000 video training sessions, podcasts, tip sheets and other proprietary content is unique in the market having been screened, vetted and curated from acclaimed experts spanning leading authors and heads of best-in-class institutions. Core to the product is a technology-led approach to engagement, training and communication that helps LifeSpeak achieve industry-leading utilization metrics. The platform, offered remotely to employees and health plan members, covers topics such as preventative health, mental health (including depression, anxiety, addiction, isolation, suicide, etc.), marital and relationship advice, parenting and eldercare.
COVID-19 Underscores Rise in Mental Health Issues
Market demand for remote, technology-based mental health and wellness solutions has grown substantially in recent years. Awareness of mental health issues from anxiety and stress to suicide risk has further accelerated with the onset of COVID-19, particularly with an increasingly remote workforce.
Recent Traction
Since its founding in 2004, LifeSpeak has established itself as a trusted digital health provider for hundreds of North America’s leading companies across 25 industries, including financial institutions, technology, telecommunication, energy, manufacturing, as well as a large public sector presence covering governments, municipalities, hospitals and school boards.
“The current health crisis has highlighted the difficulty organizations face in addressing the needs of the anxious, remote workforce,” said Michael Held, Founder and CEO of LifeSpeak. “We’re excited to partner with our new investors to dramatically expand access to LifeSpeak’s platform across health plans and employers. Addressing depression, anxiety, addiction, and other health issues enhances employee well-being and strengthens corporate culture and productivity. Building resilience enables companies to support employees in the face of everyday stress, as well as equipping them to better handle an acute crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.”