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MaRS Catalyst Fund Invests In Inkblot To Make Mental Health Services More Affordable, Accessible And Effective

Inkblot Therapy, a Toronto-based startup that makes mental health services affordable, accessible and more effective, announced a seed-stage financing round with MaRS Catalyst Fund and Active Impact Fund.

Founded in 2016 by Dr. Arash Zohoor and Luke Vigeant, Inkblot provides quality mental health services over a secure online platform while measuring improvement and treatment outcomes.

More than 6.7 million people in Canada live with a mental health condition. Mental illness can lead to higher rates of suicide, substances abuse, imprisonment, absenteeism from work, and short- and long-term disability.

Quick facts:

  • Inkblot is available to over 150,000 students across Canada

  • In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness or addiction problem

  • By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 has—or has had—a mental illness

  • People with mental illness are twice as likely to have a substance use problem compared to the general population

  • At least 20% of people with a mental illness have a co-occurring substance use problem

  • Mental illness is the leading cause of disability in Canada

  • The disease burden of mental illness and addiction in Ontario is 1.5 times higher than all cancers put together and more than 7 times that of all infectious diseases (this includes years lived with less than full function and years lost to early death)

“It was deeply important for Inkblot to ensure that the first investors that we brought into the company were aligned with our mission and vision of fixing mental health in Canada. In MaRS Catalyst, we’ve found a perfectly aligned partner to help Inkblot scale over the coming years. We could not be more excited about having MaRS Catalyst on our cap table and Kathryn Wortsman join our board of directors. Working together we will improve access to mental health and improve health outcomes while scaling a business with strong fundamentals.” Luke Vigeant, CEO, Inkblot

“Mental health is the leading cause of disabilities in Canada and affects an estimate of 1 in 5 individuals in North America. Inkblot’s approach to high-quality and measurable yet affordable and accessible mental health care is game-changing. With Inkblot, we have the opportunity to have a large scale impact on the state of mental wellbeing in North America.” Kathryn Wortsman, Fund Manager, MaRS Catalyst Fund