Kooth, the UK’s largest provider of online mental health services – has appointed Tim Barker, previously at DataSift and Salesforce, as its new Chief Executive.
As a pioneer in digital mental healthcare, Kooth’s vision is to make mental health support available to everyone, taking individuals on a personalised journey to wellbeing through clinically-proven digital self-help, online peer support, and 1:1 counselling.
As demand continues to grow, Kooth is expanding to provide services to universities and businesses in the UK and internationally. Mounting research and evidence shows growing unmet demand for mental health services, especially early-intervention support, which has become a defining public health challenge of our time.
As a serial entrepreneur, Tim Barker was previously CEO of DataSift, a social data and AI platform which was acquired by Meltwater in 2018. Prior to DataSift, Tim spent five years at Salesforce in marketing, strategy, and product leadership roles following its acquisition of his previous business.
Commenting on his new role, Tim said: “As a pioneer in the market, Kooth has amassed an incredible team, tech, clinical expertise, and position of trust in the industry. Given my experience in scaling innovative tech businesses, I’m excited to lead the team as we expand our products, markets, and distribution channels to deliver on our vision to make vital mental health services available to everyone.”
Frank Hyman, ScaleUp Capital COO said:
Tim brings incredible experience and perspective to Kooth. In his career he has established start-ups and scaled-up organisations. He is a visionary team player and embodies the leadership qualities needed for such a critical role at such an important time for Kooth.