The COVID-19 pandemic unveiled a broken healthcare system that was subject to a piling number of people reporting mental health issues, staff shortages, long working hours and burned-out professionals. This is where the London-based Nolea Health came into picture by addressing the core problem of healthcare providers needing help finding enough staff to serve their patients.
Raises £1M seed funding
Now, the healthcare jobs marketplace platform picked up £1 million in seed funding, which marks the company’s public launch after 12 months in stealth. The round was led by London VC Frontline Ventures that backed Solvo.ai alongside participation from Calm/Storm Ventures and other notable industry figures, including Anne Heraty, ex-CEO of CPL Resources, and Mahiben Maruthappu, CEO of Cera.
With this round, the total funding raised by Nolea Health accounts for nearly $1.5 million since its debut in 2022. The funding will be used to expand the team, develop machine learning-based technology, and innovate further across the hiring process to support healthcare organisations at the workforce forecasting and planning stage.
Furthermore, Nolea Health will also use the investment to accelerate the growth of its clinician marketplace platform, which has over 1k mental healthcare professionals. It will also enable the company to innovate further across the hiring process and support healthcare organisations at the workforce forecasting and planning stage.
“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. With our innovative approach, we believe we can make a real difference in this area and successfully address the urgent issue of staff shortages.” said co-founder and CEO of Nolea Health, Richie Dawes.
“Richie’s background in healthcare and his experience in launching marketplaces puts him in prime position to build the perfect solution to this urgent issue.” said Frontline Ventures Partner, William McQuillan.
“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,” said Mariama Boumanjal, Google for Startups Black Founders Fund Manager Europe and Africa.
“We are excited to see Nolea addressing the core problem of healthcare providers needing help finding enough staff to serve their patients. The innovative white-label clinician marketplace platform also enables clinicians that want work flexibility, multiple work opportunities, access to digital tools, and upskilling opportunities. With Richie’s background in scaling a mental healthcare clinic, we believe the founder-market-fit is exceptional.,” said Calm/Storm Founding Partner, Lucanus Polagnoli.
Brainchild of UK-born black founder
Nolea Health was founded by Richie Dawes in 2022 in London. The UK-based jobs marketplace platform focuses on mental healthcare. His early career included stints in finance at Bloomberg and Lloyds Banking Group. Also, he has an extensive experience leading prominent e-commerce marketplace launches for JustEat, YOOX Net-a-Porter Group, Gianni Versace S.r.l, and Conde Nast’s style.com.
He came up with the idea of Nolea Health after realising the impact that technology can bring to deliver greater access to healthcare services. This made him more determined to solve one of the bottlenecks holding back access to healthcare.
There are rivals such as Lantum, Patchworks(UK), Vivian Health and Incredible Health (USA) that also address the staffing challenges in the healthcare industry. However, Nolea Health’s unique job distribution model across its active network of mental healthcare clinicians and independent recruiters give it a competitive advantage over other staff agencies supplying the NHS. The team of 9 at the company comprises 4 women and 5 men and it is also hiring to support their product’s growth.
Addresses healthcare recruitment bottlenecks
Nolea Health is touted to be a simple, fast, and transparent platform that reduces the time take to hire by up to 90% and the sourcing costs up to 85%. Nolea Health is a jobs marketplace that matches mental healthcare clinicians with the right vacant jobs across different healthcare organisations and health systems.
The platform’s matching algorithm utilises the clinician’s profile data, such as experience, education and work preferences, with employers’ job requirements, location, and work culture, to increase the likelihood of successful matches and hires for short-term work opportunities. Once matched, the company hires the clinician to deliver short-term remote-based and in-person mental healthcare.
With this platform, employers can effortlessly browse, and instantly discover, the best clinical talent on demand. One of Nolea’s key features is its comprehensive clinician directory, containing verified and vetted healthcare professionals. The platform’s matching technology allows organisations to upload vacant positions and receive suitable clinician matches within 24 hours. This feature expedites the hiring experience, enabling organisations to fast-track candidates to the interview stage.
In addition to this, Nolea Health lets clinicians easily share their dynamic availability, enabling employers to find suitable candidates for their open positions. Additionally, clinicians can manage all licensing and credential data in one place, saving valuable time on both sides during the onboarding process.
