News Article

UK–listed digital mental-health specialist Kooth, best known for its youth platform Soluna, has agreed to acquire US start-up Kismet Health adding a purpose-built teletherapy solution for children aged 5-12 and expanding its addressable market across American Medicaid and school-funded programs.

The deal underscores investors’ growing appetite for scalable, tech-enabled behavioural health models that can penetrate underserved geographies and younger cohorts.

Founded in California, Kismet has developed an interactive telehealth interface featuring gamified exercises and parent dashboards aimed at boosting engagement among elementary-age users. By folding this IP into Soluna, Kooth gains clinically-validated content for an age group it previously served only indirectly, creating a cradle-to-college continuum attractive to state payers.

Management highlighted three strategic levers:

• Pipeline lift – Kismet is already in late-stage discussions with “a number of U.S. states where Kooth is not currently active,” immediately widening Kooth’s sales funnel beyond its flagship California contract.
• Rural reach – Because Kismet’s platform is bandwidth-light and device-agnostic, it supports Kooth’s thesis that digital delivery can close therapy gaps in remote districts where in-person pediatric clinicians are scarce.
• Cross-sell synergies – Kooth will onboard four of Kismet’s clinical and product leaders, accelerating integration and offering existing Soluna clients a plug-and-play module for younger siblings, thereby deepening wallet share.

For operators, the combined toolkit positions Kooth to bid for comprehensive state-wide contracts that bundle prevention, triage, and therapy across the full youth spectrum. For investors, the transaction bolsters Kooth’s long-term U.S. growth narrative, diversifies revenue beyond its marquee California deal, and may temper margin volatility by leveraging Kismet’s already-built platform rather than internal R&D spend.