We are delighted to announce our latest investment in Psyomics, as part of a £4m funding round. The fresh funding will help accelerate the extension of the company’s AI-informed medical device Censeo, to include specialist children and young people’s mental health assessment.
London, June 2024: Psyomics, a leading mental health technology company, today announces £4 million in fresh funding to advance Censeo – an AI-informed medical device. Censeo is transforming how mental health conditions, from serious complex and enduring to common anxiety disorders, are assessed and triaged.
Parkwalk Advisors, the UK’s most active investor in university spinouts, led the funding round by investing a further £3.5 million.
Spun-out from The University of Cambridge through the Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research (CCNR), Psyomics’ platform, Censeo, undertook its’ first commercial year in 2023 with five NHS and private healthcare contracts, including in the Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust, as a Class 1 medical device.
By utilising smart algorithms to perform detailed and personalised analysis, Censeo creates a biopsychosocial ‘profile’ of an individual’s mental health needs. Censeo’s in-depth insights allow for a greater understanding of a patient’s personalised needs and treatment pathways, helping achieve their best possible clinical outcome. Censeo’s technology is having an immediate impact on service provision with 81% of clinicians reporting that Censeo improved the quality of care and on average reduced time spent on patient triage and assessment by 50 percent or more.
Dr Melinda Rees, CEO of Psyomics, said: “Mental health services continue to be in a challenged state in the UK and globally, with people waiting far too long for treatment. Censeo cuts waiting lists by reducing the administrative time burden, streamlining assessment processes and freeing up clinical time for healthcare professionals to spend treating patients.
“With these funds we can advance our platform, crucially developing a service for children, young people and their families and carers, expanding our reach so more people are able to get help sooner. Since Covid there has been an alarming downturn in children’s mental health, with record numbers of families seeking support. It is in everyone’s best interests to get these families the help they so desperately need and deserve.”
Mental health services in the UK are under significant strain. 1.4 million people are waiting for mental health treatment at any one time[i], and 78% of those waiting resorted to emergency services or a crisis line[ii]. Developed in collaboration with leading neurotechnology and clinical experts from Cambridge University, Censeo is designed to improve the assessment and triage of all adult mental health conditions. Censeo offers an accurate, objective and consistent measure of people’s clinical needs, helping get them on the right clinical pathway first time.
Martin Glen, Investment Director at Parkwalk Advisors, said: “The demand for mental health services in the UK is on a rapid incline, whilst the availability and access to services is struggling to keep pace. Psyomics’ technology can help transform how we approach the assessment of mental health conditions not only in the UK but globally.
“Psyomics has an exciting pipeline of new technologies and services that will see it pioneer a more efficient approach to mental health diagnosis. It is an exceptional example of the contribution that the UK’s universities are making throughout healthcare, and we are delighted to help Psyomics scale and reach more people.”
With this new investment, Psyomics now plans to develop additional capabilities for children and young people in Censeo, including triage and assessment plus neurodiversity screening. 75% of mental health conditions start before the age of 18[iii][iv]. This important step by Psyomics marks a significant commitment to improving lifespan mental health in the UK, by focusing on earlier diagnosis and effective intervention for mental health conditions in younger generations.
In June 2024, Psyomics also secured the international exclusive license on world first intellectual property for improving the diagnosis of bipolar disorder through a biomarker panel. Bipolar disorder is commonly misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder owing to a lack of diagnostic tools and overlapping symptoms. A new study[v], led from the University of Cambridge, produced globally significant results identifying biomarker signatures that recognise and differentiate the disorder. Psyomics is integrating these findings into Censeo, uniquely strengthening its diagnostic capabilities for bipolar disorder.
To accelerate the roll out of its technology across NHS and Private Healthcare services, Psyomics has made several key appointments, starting with CEO Dr Melinda Rees’ substantive appointment in October 2023. Dr Rees is a pioneering Consultant Clinical Psychologist, with over 30 years clinical leadership experience in the NHS and independent sector. In addition, Chloe Dowson, a Strategy and Operations specialist in international HealthTech, has been appointed as the new Chief Operating Officer. Rupert Hipwell has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer, joining with 15 years of industry experience in HealthTech and BioTech.
To find out more about Psyomics visit their website or our portfolio page here.
[i] College of Psychiatrists. (2022). Record 4.3 million referrals to specialist mental health services in 2021. Published: 15 March 2022. Available at: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/news-and-features/latest-news/detail/2022/03/15/record-4.3-million-referrals-to-specialist-mental-health-services-in-2021v
[ii] Royal College of Psychiatrists. (2022). Hidden waits force more than three quarters of mental health patients to seek help from emergency services. Published 10th October 2022. Available at: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/news-and-features/latest-news/detail/2022/10/10/hidden-waits-force-more-than-three-quarters-of-mental-health-patients-to-seek-help-from-emergency-services
[iii] Davies SC. Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer 2013, Public Mental Health Priorities: Investing in the Evidence [Internet]. 2014. Available from: gov.uk
[iv] Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry [Internet]. 2005 Jun 1 [cited 2018 Oct 16];62(6):593. Available from: archpsyc.jamanetwork.com
[v] Jakub Tomasik, Scott J. Harrison, Nitin Rustogi et al. Metabolic Biomarker Signatures for Bipolar and Unipolar Depression, JAMA Psychiatry. 2024, available at: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2811312
