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Spotted: It is estimated that, in the UK, two students in every primary school class of 30 have a developmental language disorder – and this problem has worsened since the pandemic. Yet, at the same time, there are few options for direct-to-consumer speech and language therapy, with most patients relying on speech therapists—who are in short supply—for treatment. Startup Noala hopes to change this with a direct-to-consumer children’s speech therapy platform.

Noala was founded in 2021 as an app that speech and language therapists could use to help run their clinics in the UK and US. Now the startup is pivoting to a new offering that combines digital activities with weekly sessions led by speech and language professionals. By using a digital platform, Noala aims to make it easier to access speech and language therapy treatment. Using a platform-led approach could allow the company to reach more students and at a lower cost.

The consumer-facing platform costs students £30 a week – around a third the price of standard therapy. At the same time, Noala has stopped charging therapists to use its software, further helping to make speech and language therapy more accessible.

Noala has recently raised €4 million in a seed funding round led by LocalGlobe, with participation from Cocoa Ventures, and a number of angels.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a jump-start to new methods of providing health care, with many of these aimed at making health care more accessible and inclusive. Some of the ideas covered recently here at Springwise include a drive-through clinic that provides in-car care and a platform that manages healthcare administration – freeing up resources for more patient care.

Written By: Lisa Magloff