HALEO secures $5.2 million seed-extension financing
Published on: June 30, 2022 | Reading time: 🕐 3m
HALEO Secures $5.2 Million Seed-Extension Financing
Innovative virtual sleep clinic that helps restore healthy sleep practices for organizations and individuals will grow North American business visibility, add jobs, and expand sleep therapeutic offerings
Montreal, June 30th, 2022 - HALEO, a world-renowned professional virtual sleep clinic, today announced it has closed a CAD $5.2 million (US $4.04M) Seed-Extension financing round to accelerate business growth across the United States and Canada. Boréal Ventures and AQC Capital led the round, along with investments from Investissement Québec, Desjardins Capital, Real Ventures and the Pan-Canadian Consortium MEDTEQ+ (with support from the Government of Canada). Members of the Anges Québec network and other notable angel investors also participated in the round.
HALEO is a professional virtual care solution for sleep that uses evidence-based techniques, such as cognitive behavioural therapy and image rehearsal therapy. Licensed therapists provide care to patients using HALEO’s proprietary, clinically proven treatment protocols delivered through its state-of-the-art mobile application. The solution not only changes people’s lives by helping them return to healthy sleep and by reducing symptoms of mental illness, it also significantly reduces the absence management, disability, safety, and prescription medication costs assumed by the employer. Many employers describe HALEO as a highly effective physical and mental health solution that carries none of the taboo often associated with workplace assistance programs.
This seed-funding extension will fuel HALEO’s research and development for new solutions across treatment modalities,such as digital therapeutics, and across underserved clinical fields such as shiftwork, nightmares, sleep optimization and sleep medication management. HALEO recently launched a new solution for shift workers (SW-CBTi) experiencing insomnia. This protocol is designed and clinically proven to be effective for first responders, manufacturers, transporters, front-line healthcare professionals and other shift workers.
Bradley Smith, HALEO’s Founder and CEO, said that the company has been focused on delivering outstanding care for sleep at scale since it was founded in 2015. “Everyone’s sleep is different, and so are the organizational cultures of the clients we serve. We personalize care and systematically assess the effectiveness of our interventions for each patient.We also customize our communication and reporting tools for our customers to maximize employee engagement,” added Smith.
Kalthoum Bouacida, partner at AQC Capital, says that “the global Sleep Aids market is huge, yet none of the existing solutions effectively resolve the problem of poor sleep at the population level. HALEO’s virtual sleep clinic meets this challenge head-on. I am really excited to see HALEO treating millions of patients.”
David Charbonneau, managing partner at Boreal Ventures, added that “what sets HALEO apart is how its solution integrates professional clinical expertise in sleep into a digital platform. The result is a seamless clinical experience delivering high engagement, strong adherence to treatment and very satisfied customers. HALEO is a rare type of health benefit: a clinically proven solution that has demonstrated the ability to scale to the point that it significantly and measurably reduces an organization’s costs and risks.”
For Julien Ponce, Chairperson of HALEO’s Board of Directors, HALEO is addressing an important market need. “Front-line health care workers and first responders are in greater demand than ever before.These factors along with two years of a global pandemic, financial uncertainty,and general stress and mental health impacts all contribute to the increase of sleep disorders. The rise of poor sleep hinders productivity, retention, andsafety, which adds costs and risks to employers,” said Ponce.
About AQC Capital
AQC Capital is a venture capital fund supporting start-up businesses. The fund invests in Quebec companies in all sectors that seek to bring innovation to global markets. AQC Capital teams up with Anges Québec, the largest angel investor network in Canada,and together the groups bring smart capital to start-ups thanks to their experience and network.
About Boreal Ventures
Founded in 2021, Boreal Ventures is an investment fund. Its mission is to capitalize on local scientific talent to participate in the creation of tomorrow's technological flagships. Boreal Ventures' philosophy is based on transparency and dedication to the success of the companies of its portfolio. Boreal Ventures aims to create a strong "deeptech" ecosystem, one success at a time. Boreal Ventures intends to achieve this by acting as a talent pipeline and catalyst for growth by making a $27 million investment fund available to technology start-ups.
About HALEO
Founded in 2015, HALEO is a virtual sleep clinic whose mission is to provide access to quality care based on clinically proven solutions for those suffering from insomnia or other sleep disorders. From sleep education and screening to the treatment of sleep disorders, HALEO helps improve the health and performance of employees while helping employers reduce their costs and risks.
For more information: Media@haleoclinic.com