UK-based Noala secures €4M to help families access speech and language therapy

London-based Noala, a platform that offers speech and language therapy, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $4M (approximately €4M) in a Seed round of funding.

The oversubscribed round was led by LocalGlobe with participation from Cocoa Ventures. Angels such as Nicolas Brusson (BlaBlaCar), Josefin Landgard (Kry), Adrien Nussenbaum (Mirakl), and Xavier Louis (Peak), also participated.

Julia Hawkins, General Partner at LocalGlobe, says, “Leveraging their digital platform, Noala aims to reduce the friction usually associated with accessing speech and language therapy treatment. As we’ve seen in other pillars of the health sector in the wake of Covid, teletherapy presents a significant opportunity to improve access but only when it’s built with inclusion in mind, and only when it’s backed with clinical authority. Noala has encapsulated this with its platform-led approach and Emilie’s inspiring motivation.”

Noala says it will use the funds to expand its product and clinical teams, with the goal of becoming the go-to platform for everyone involved in speech and language services.

Using personal experience to inspire others

Communication is critical to our professional and personal success, yet an estimated 20% of us may struggle with it at some time in our lives. In the UK, two students in every class of 30 have a Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), and 81 per cent of people with emotional and behavioural issues have undiagnosed communication requirements.

In the US alone, more people have communication difficulties (46 million) than diabetes (34 million), according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the impact of which is substantial.

Noala’s founder, Emilie Spire, witnessed firsthand the impact such communication impairments may have on a person’s quality of life after her niece suffered from a stroke just before her birth. 

Spire, who has spent her career in investing and product development at companies such as Partech, Felix Capital, and BlaBlaCar, was inspired by her niece’s journey to create a platform that supports the needs of millions of people in order to help mitigate this impact and give people back their voice.

Level up your communication

Founded in 2021, Noala is a digital platform on a mission to make speech and language therapy accessible to all. The company was created to assist Speech and Language Professionals (SLPs), their patients, and their families by reducing hurdles that exist when attempting to receive vital therapy services, both online and offline.

Noala provides families with support, counselling, and personalised practical activities in days rather than months, all from the comfort of their own homes. The platform gives families more control over their loved ones’ care and treatment by allowing them to get professionally supported coaching within a week.

SLPs using Noala can access all of the resources they need to operate more effectively, providing them peace of mind, more time with patients, and helping to ease the burden on health services and schools.

How does Noala help patients and SLPs?

Noala may be utilised as a standalone therapy option, or while patients are on waiting lists, and alongside existing NHS or school-led treatment programmes.

The company’s in-house staff curates and manages each six-week programme. Throughout their time on the platform, users are given specialised Noala SLPs, who monitor each patient’s progress to provide clinical input and to personalise the programme to individual requirements and growth.

Its first programme focuses on Developmental Language, which helps youngsters aged two to seven years old improve their grasp of spoken language via six themed sessions ranging from body parts to animals and more. 

Every week, Noala’s Clinical Director provides coaching videos to families, as well as a package of digital tasks such as flash cards, keywords, and colouring sheets. After each week of practice, families can schedule a video chat with their specialised SLPs to discuss their progress and assist them in meeting their goals. 

The platform can be used by any professional working in the UK or US to onboard and manage their existing caseload for SLPs. Noala includes all of the digital resources needed to manage their practice, including integrated and interactive video call capabilities, a session plan builder, an invoice generator, and clinical notes templates. Additionally, it also features an increasing collection of clinically reviewed exercises. This includes online sessions with colleagues that count toward their Continual Professional Development goals.

By helping SLPs work more efficiently, with fewer admin burdens, they are less likely to experience burnout or become disillusioned. According to data, 10 per cent of SLPs are feeling burnout, and a recent poll of 1,000 healthcare workers revealed that 28 per cent had quit jobs due to burnout.

Reducing the barriers to entry

Noala’s set and open pricing system are affordable for both families and schools, costing around a third of the average price of traditional private services. Patients can utilise Noala both long-term and as a short-term remedy while waiting for NHS therapy.
With Noala, people can also be seen much faster, in days versus months or even years, and professionals can do more of what they love – caring for patients. This not only lets patients get well faster, but also allows SLPs to see more patients, both of which can assist national health systems to manage their public waiting lists more effectively.