Jerusalem, Israel-based BrainQ has raised $5.3 million in its latest funding rounding, bringing the digital neurodisorder therapy company’s total funding to $8.8 million. Participants in the round included Qure Ventures, OurCrowd.com, Norma Investments, IT-Farm, and other angel investors.
The company is working on technology that identifies high resolution spectral patterns in brain waves. With the help of proprietary AI algorithms, this electroencephalogram (EEG) is used to developed an individual-specific electromagnetic treatment plan for patients with disabilities from stroke or spinal cord injury, for instance. The company also operates a brain-computer interface (BCI)-based EEG database, which helps inform its AI component.
"BrainQ's novel approach to provide a personalized treatment solution fits perfectly within our investment mandate, as the technology is clearly a disruptive and differentiated solution to a large and growing need in the neurorehabilitation market,” Dr. Yossi Bahagon, general partner at Qure Ventures, said in a statement. “We are very excited to be partnered with the strong and passionate management team at BrainQ.”
The company said in a statement that it will be using the funding to bring its brain-computer interface (BCI)-based simulation device closer to commercialization in multiple markets, to support clinical trials, and to grow its unique EEG database. So far, the company’s technology has been applied in animal studies, and early-stage human clinical trials.
“Our BCI-based technology uses unique AI algorithms to interpret patients' EEG high resolution spectral patterns into a non-invasive and patient friendly, tailored electromagnetic treatment for neuro-recovery following stroke, [spinal cord injury], and [traumatic brain injury],” CEO and cofounder Yotam Drechsler told MobiHealthNews in an email. “We've seen very encouraging preclinical and first-in-human results by now, and the money raised will help us expand our clinical and research collaborations with leading institutions in US and Europe, getting us closer to market and to further position BrainQ as leader in the industry.”
BrainQ was among the four startups announced last year as participants in the Google Developers Launchpad Studio, a mentorship program designed to support machine learning-based startups. Along with Drechsler and his cofounders Dr. Yaron Segal and Esther Shohami, the company is primarily staffed by former members of Israel’s security forces’ intelligence units, according to the company.
