Virtual health-care company raises $2M in seed funding

A Newfoundland and Labrador-based corporate virtual health company has raised $2.3 million in seed funding to expand its services across North America.

In an April 28 release, Cyno announced it has closed its latest seed round of funding, which will allow the company to increase staff and expand the platform allowing employees to easily search, book, and meet with top health and wellness providers from the comfort of their homes.

The company was originally founded in 2017 to address the healthcare professional shortage across rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Five years later, Cyno CEO Peter Barbour is still committed to helping residents access care that is not widely available.

“I came to the realization that equal and comprehensive access to expert health advice has many barriers,” said Barbour. “Whether the barrier is geography, cost, wait times, or various types of inadequate insurance coverage, it really isn’t right that everyone doesn’t have direct and fast access to a health expert who could provide life-altering guidance.”

Cyno’s unique service offers live one-on-one and group consultations in more than 250 different virtual health services, including mental health counselling, personal training, nutrition consultations, financial coaching, art therapy and many others.

“We were looking for a way to reach the most people, so we started exploring corporations and their health and wellness benefits plans,” said Barbour. “We discovered that many preventative health services were not covered by traditional health insurance, and many of the services that were covered didn’t have adequate coverage to meet user’s needs.”