
London Stock Exchange welcomes Kooth plc to AIM
London Stock Exchange today welcomes Kooth, the UK’s leading provider of online mental health services, following the Company’s successful IPO and fundraise on AIM.
The Company has successfully raised £26 million through a placing, giving it a market capitalisation on Admission of £66.1 million. The gross proceeds for the Company will be used to support its organic growth, both through investment in its platform and also market development. It will trade under the ticker ‘KOO’.
Kooth was founded in 2001 to explore how online services could help expand access to mental health services, especially within groups that might not typically seek help due to perceived stigma. Kooth provides a safe, credible and accredited online service that facilitates and develops conversations about mental wellbeing nationwide.
The key tenets of the service are: accessibility, anonymity, choice, and community. By eliminating obstacles such as the need for referrals, waiting lists and usage thresholds, individuals can access the support they need on their own terms, putting them in control of their journey to mental wellbeing and providing both early intervention and longer-term support. Kooth is also designed to help address those individuals with more complex mental health needs.
Kooth provides a broad range of therapeutic tools and interventions, putting choice and control in the hands of individuals to decide what works best for them. Focused on outcomes for the individual, Kooth provides:
• Self-help tools and content
• Community for Peer-to-Peer Support
• Professional Counselling
Kooth offers digital mental health services to the NHS and is the only UK-wide digital service accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, the professional association for members of the counselling profession in the UK. As at December 2019, 5.4 million children, young people and adults were able to access Kooth, of whom an average of 1 in 40 people use the platform. In some regions, the usage rate is as high as 1 in 8 people.
Tim Barker, CEO of Kooth, said: “This is a great moment for Kooth. In joining AIM we are accessing one of the world’s leading growth markets and all the benefits of being a publicly listed company. This listing will help us grow and, ultimately, bring mental health services to more people in the UK and eventually around the world.
“Kooth was the first company to offer digital mental health services in the UK, and as our lives transition increasingly online we look forward to using the proceeds of this IPO to help more people than ever before. I’m grateful to our highly qualified team who work every day with the 5.4 million people in the UK who have access to our services and ensure the highest possible levels of care.
“Finally, I would like to thank our new shareholders, with whose backing we will be able to expand our services and help those most in need.”
Marcus Stuttard, Head of AIM & UK Primary Markets, LSEG said: “We are delighted to welcome Kooth to AIM today. Its successful IPO on AIM, underlines how AIM supports the growth of innovative healthcare and technology companies through access to deep liquid pools of equity capital and a diverse international investor base.”
Advisers to the IPO include:
- Panmure Gordon, NOMAD and sole broker
- Squire Patton Boggs, Company legal counsel
- K&L Gates, Panmure Gordon legal counsel
- Grant Thornton, Reporting accountant
- FTI Consulting, Financial Public Relations adviser