Swedish digital therapy provider Mindler has bought ieso Digital Health UK, deepening its access to the United Kingdom’s mental-health market and creating what the companies call the nation’s most comprehensive online treatment platform.
The Stockholm-based firm, founded in 2018, already offers video sessions with psychologists and app-based cognitive behavioural therapy across the Nordics and the Netherlands. The deal hands Mindler contracts covering one third of England’s integrated care systems and a nationwide agreement in Scotland, widening potential reach to more than 20 million adults who can already use ieso through the National Health Service.
Neither side disclosed a price, but Mindler recently secured €15 million in equity and debt financing to fund expansion. Erica Larson, group chief executive officer of Mindler, said the tie-up would set “a gold standard for scalable, evidence-based digital therapy” and give patients “the most comprehensive digital mental health platform in the UK”.
Cambridge-based ieso Digital Health UK has delivered more than 640,000 hours of therapy over the past decade, much of it text-based cognitive behavioural therapy. Charlotte Housden, its UK managing director, said joining forces would “amplify our impact while staying true to what has made ieso UK so trusted by patients and NHS partners alike”.
The acquisition comes as demand for psychological support continues to exceed supply. Around 3.8 million people were in contact with NHS mental-health, learning-disability and autism services between 2023 and 2024, up almost two-fifths on pre-pandemic levels, according to Rethink Mental Illness. Vacancy rates for NHS mental-health doctors stand at 11.3 per cent, highlighting a staffing gap that digital providers hope to bridge.
Mindler says research conducted with Uppsala University showed 88 per cent of its users received timely care and 86 per cent felt better able to manage their conditions. By combining real-time video therapy with ieso’s asynchronous, typed approach and new AI-powered clinical tools, the company argues it can give commissioners more flexibility in triaging patients and cutting waiting lists.
All patient data will remain under the ownership of ieso Digital Health UK and continue to be stored in compliance with NHS governance rules, the companies said. Housden will stay on in her current role to oversee integration, while the parent company of ieso focuses on developing artificial-intelligence products for international markets.
The purchase follows Mindler’s earlier acquisitions of Finnish mental-health startup Medified and UK youth-therapy provider The Sandbox, underscoring a strategy to build scale across Europe as digital therapy competes for public-sector contracts and corporate wellness budgets.
