Bristol’s Paranimo raises £50k to develop its platform

Paranimo, a Bristol-based SaaS workplace wellbeing platform, has raised £50,000 in investments from the Capital Pilot Boost Fund.

The firm’s Personalised Matched Support system makes accessing personalised mental health support easier by connecting them to the best counsellor, psychotherapist or hypnotherapist, taking relevance, personality fit and availability into account.

Matthew Vamplew, Co-Founder of Paranimo, which translates to ‘match mind’ in Latin, said: “Research shows that the better the therapeutic match with your counsellor or psychotherapist, the better the mental health outcome.”

“Workplace solutions such as Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), which provide generic therapeutic support via helplines, are not part of the solution. They are reactive and push employees through a triage process that forces them to justify why they need help, only to be given the next available counsellor.

“This ‘bad matching’ leads to prolonged ill health, lower productivity, and higher risk of staff absence.”

“EAPs also incentivise you not to use them as they work on a “assumed usage model” (think energy meter). My advice for HR and People Managers is to choose a mental health care provider that wants you to use them!”

Research suggests that up to 37 per cent of all sick days are stress-related, so helping employees access the right type of mental health care has both operational and economical benefits.

The money the firm has raised from the Capital Pilot Boost Fund will be used to take on the existing workplace mental health solutions, with a goal of empowering organisations to take on more responsibility for their employees’ mental health.

It brings Paranimo’s total money raised to date to £297,000, including equity investments and Innovate UK grant funding.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without that funding and the guidance we had from Innovate UK EDGE on our grant funding strategy,” said Matthew.

With support from Innovate UK EDGE Funding Specialist, Dr Ben Masheder, Paranimo was able to raise £150,000 over two successful funding applications.

The company has used the funds to hire two new members of staff who will help Paranimo to realise the huge market potential of its product. Mental health challenges cost the UK economy nearly £118 billion annually and Paranimo hopes its targeted approach will bring employees back to wellbeing and productivity faster.