Black Founder Secures Over $1M For Mental Healthcare Jobs Marketplace
London-based healthcare jobs marketplace platform, Nolea Health, has secured £1 million ($1.2 million) in seed funding to tackle mental healthcare staff shortages.
The financing round was led by Frontline Ventures, with participation from Calm/Storm Ventures and other notable industry figures, including Anne Heraty, ex-CEO of CPL Resources, and Mahiben Maruthappu, CEO of Cera.
Nolea Health’s platform matches mental healthcare clinicians with vacant jobs across different healthcare organizations, reducing the time taken to hire staff by up to 90% and the sourcing costs by up to 85%.
Addressing the mental health crisis with tech
The platform’s matching algorithm uses information like the clinicians’ experience, education and work preferences, as well as the employers’ job requirements, location, and work culture.
Nolea Health’s comprehensive directory of verified and vetted healthcare professionals also enables organizations to fast-track candidates to the interview stage.
“The innovative white-label clinician marketplace platform also enables clinicians that want work flexibility, multiple work opportunities, access to digital tools, and upskilling opportunities,” said Calm/Storm Founding Partner, Lucanus Polagnoli.
“With Richie’s background in scaling a mental healthcare clinic, we believe the founder-market-fit is exceptional.”
Rich Dawes founded Nolea Health last year, following the intense strain the pandemic had on the UK’s already overstretched National Health Service (NHS).
“Our mental healthcare industry is in crisis. The demand for services is growing, while the supply of skilled professionals is dwindling.”
“Our mission at Nolea Health is to create a revolutionary platform that will change how healthcare providers find talent and healthcare professionals find jobs,” Dawes said in a statement.
“We saw mental healthcare as the ideal starting point, given the tremendous growth in demand in recent years, and the widespread adoption of remote-based care in the post-COVID world.”
He added: “This shift in momentum has created new flexible work opportunities for the full spectrum of mental healthcare professionals, many of whom may have historically been overlooked by healthcare companies because of the demand for accredited healthcare professionals over qualified equivalent healthcare staff roles.”
Previous investment
Nolea Health’s first investment came through the On Deck Global Accelerator in January 2022, followed by non-dilutive cash grants, Google Cloud credits, and hands-on support as part of the Google Black Founder fund that summer.
Mariama Boumanjal, Google for Startups Black Founders Fund Manager Europe and Africa: “We are delighted to have played a part in Nolea Health’s journey and to see its positive impact in the healthcare industry.”
“Nolea Health’s innovative approach to addressing mental health challenges is inspiring. We are proud to have supported Nolea Health through our program.”
Nolea Health was also selected for the Digital Launchpad London program this year.
What’s next?
The platform is currently in beta and building up a growing network of mental healthcare clinicians and leading mental healthcare organizations.
This latest funding will be used to expand the Nolea Health team, develop machine learning-based technology, and innovate further across the hiring process to support healthcare organizations at the workforce forecasting and planning stage.
