Kara Connect, today announced it will locate its operations in Ireland, with plans to create up to 100 new roles. The announcement follows a recent Series A fundraising of €6 million led by Kvika Asset Management.
Founded in Iceland by Thorbjorg Helga Vigfusdottir, an educational psychologist and specialist in cognitive development turned entrepreneur, Kara Connect began as a practice management platform for therapists.
It also announced Kerry businessman John McElligott, who has been a board member of Kara Connect since 2020, as chief operating officer and head of Ireland for Kara Connect, with responsibility for leading its European expansion from Ireland.
Kara Connect is a health and well-being platform which connects employees with coaches, counsellors, and therapists. It provides organisations with a suite of solutions enabling employees to access services which are tailored to their individual well-being requirements.
The company has begun recruiting and is creating roles in sales, marketing, client service and finance to initially target the UK & Ireland markets, followed by continental Europe. It has already signed up and onboarded health and well-being practitioners including nutritionists, psychologists, life & career coaches, and financial counsellors, amongst others to provide services to employees on dedicated private company platforms.
Kara Connect offers a leading-edge technology solution that provides a highly secure platform for employees to interact with health practitioners and access the well-being supports they need. The platform has also been developed to support therapists and counsellors with a range of solutions that include enhanced interaction tools and the ability to upload case notes to a secure platform, enabling practitioners to engage with and support their clients digitally.
The Kara Connect platform is built with security as the overarching priority. All data is fully encrypted end-to-end and all technical components employ leading-edge security features. The solution ensures complete confidentiality and discretion for those availing of well-being services.
“More and more organisations recognise the health and well-being of their workforce as a major priority in employee recruitment, engagement, and retention,” said McElligott. “At the same time, employees now look to their employers for access to coaching, counselling, and therapy. These trends have accelerated through the pandemic and these services are becoming the recognised standard for corporate well-being throughout Europe and beyond.”
“In the past, employee well-being was focused on providing the same experience for everyone, such as free food, ping-pong tables and wellness lectures. Today, we’re seeing employees increasingly seek support to address specific but variable concerns. Kara Connect enables employers to provide well-being services tailored to employees’ individual requirements in total privacy.”
Thorbjorg Helga Vigfusdottir, CEO of Kara Connect, said: “Dublin is recognised around the world as a location for top talent and as a global tech hub, making it the ideal location for us to establish our European sales and marketing hub. Ireland will form our operational base to expand into the UK and beyond over the coming years.”
Kara Connect works with a diverse range of mainly Nordic clients including University Hospital, Reykjavik Power, Samkaup and the University of Reykjavik.
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