Psious has announced the closing of an €8 million funding round. The round was co-led by Sabadell Asabys, a vehicle managed by Asabys Partners, and Caixa Capital Micro II and Caixa Capital Tic II, managed by Caixa Capital Risc. Banc Sabadell and the Carlos Gallardo investment vehicle specialising in digital health investments, among others, were also actively involved.

With this round, the company will complete the development of its virtual reality solutions for the treatment of anxiety disorders (phobias, panic, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder), stress management, depression, attention problems such as ADHD, and autistic spectrum and psychotic disorders, among many others. To this end, the firm is focusing its activities on consolidating clinical activity through international studies that analyse the therapeutic effect of virtual reality in the field of cognitive behavioural therapy.

With this investment, the company will be able to implement its international expansion plans by offering its technology to customers in Europe and the United States. The opening of these new markets will be a new milestone for Psious, which has already consolidated its business model in Spain and Latin America, where nearly a thousand mental health professionals, mostly psychologists and psychiatrists, successfully use the Psious solution in their daily practice.

With this, Psious will continue to build on its growth, bringing innovative and effective technology solutions to the burgeoning mental health sector. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that some type of mental or neurological disorder will affect 25% of the global population at one point in their lives, and the number of people currently affected around the world exceeds 450 million, making these medical conditions the leading cause of disease and disability of our time. Depression alone will be the second cause of illness by 2020, only behind heart problems. The WHO has called on governments the world over to invest the necessary resources in research, therapies, personnel and new technologies to mitigate this growing phenomenon.

“The funding round confirms the work Psious has been doing since it began”, said Psious chief executive Xavier Palomer. “In this time the company has been working on implementing an innovative VR-based tech solution to treat mental health conditions. The Psious software also offers accredited clinical validation by opinion leaders and patients and represents a success story as a health-innovation company which we must now cement and build on”, he added.

“The emergence of new technologies in the therapeutic field as a complement to pharmacotherapy in mental health was a theory”, said Josep Lluis Sanfeliu, of Sabadell Asabys, “and Psious is a striking example with clinical evidence and tangible results in patients in a therapeutic area such as mental health which represents a major social challenge for western lifestyles. Our engagement with Psious is the best representation of investors’ interest in bringing to market therapeutic solutions that treat diseases, deliver savings to the healthcare system and cover a significant social need”.

Xavier Álvarez, ICT manager at Caixa Capital Risc, meanwhile, stressed the importance and uniqueness of the project: “Psious is a good example of what Caixa Capital Risc seeks in companies when it comes to investing. It is a scalable, global and innovative solution that improves treatment efficiency and patient health. Psious has been validated in several markets and offers numerous applications. It also brings together mature and emerging technologies, such as virtual reality and data analytics, and is framed in a growing sector such as digital health”.

The investment union was advised by the EY legal and transaction teams.