Health and dental benefits provider Green Shield Canada (GSC) announced the acquisition of Tranquility Online, a digital mental health app.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Halifax-based Tranquility Online offers app-based cognitive behavioral therapy and mental health coaching for anxiety, depression, and other related conditions. The startup offers its app to individuals, employers, and public sector organizations.
Tranquility Online was founded in 2017 by former chartered financial analysts Joel Muise and Alissa Pencer, a clinical psychologist and senior instructor at Dalhousie University.
According to Tranquility Online, its app guides users through educational modules and practical activities that will allow them to learn more about their anxiety, how Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) works, and teach them how to change their anxious thoughts.
The app uses evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapy approaches (program) to help people with anxiety and depression.
Tranquility’s anxiety program has nine modules, each takes approximately 30-45 minutes to complete, the company said. The Tranquility coach is available through several modes of communication, including webcam, phone, in-app messaging. Users can also book one 30-minute phone or webcam appointment with their coach each week.
“The impact of the pandemic, combined with the prospect of an uncertain future, has understandably taken a major toll on many Canadians,” explains Joe Blomeley, EVP, Mental Health at Green Shield. “In response, we continue to make it a top priority to identify innovative, clinically-validated companies like Tranquility, who can help us remove barriers to mental health care.”
“In partnership, GSC, Inkblot, and Tranquility will play a key role in knocking down barriers and providing a much-needed alternative for patients struggling to navigate the mental health system, enduring long wait times, or facing expensive treatment options,” Blomeley adds.
One hundred thirty-six digital health companies were acquired in the first half of 2021 compared to 83 in 1H 2020. CareDx, a precision medicine company, acquired Transplant Hero, which helps people receiving new organs remember to take their medication.
