ff Venture Capital (ffVC) is a technology venture capital firm investing in some of the strongest growth areas to date, including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, drones, enterprise cloud software, and crowdfunding. The firm identifies and invests in technology and technology-enabled companies at its inception across geographies and emerging industries.  With three partners and an acceleration team of 20+ investment and operations professionals, ffVC actively participates with founders to develop products, target markets, and accelerate growth. Since 2008, ffVC has invested in over 100 companies and has helped to create companies with an aggregate market value exceeding $6 billion.

ff Venture Capital

Felicis Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. The firm invests in seed through Series C stage companies across multiple sectors and industries reinventing core markets, as well as those creating frontier technologies. Felicis currently manages over $2B in capital across 8 funds. The firm is an early backer of more than 40 companies valued at $1B+. More than 90 of its portfolio companies have been acquired or gone public since the firm was founded by Aydin Senkut in 2006.

Felicis

Horizons Ventures focuses on investing in disruptive and technology-focused start-ups. The firm was founded in 1999 and is based in Hong Kong. Some of the latest exits are Skype, Siri, Facebook, Summly, and Waze.

Horizons Ventures

Harbor Pacific Capital is a venture capital firm that offers growth equity investment services to its clients. It was founded in 2009 by Kent Ho and Stuart Kwok and is based in California.

Harbor Pacific Capital

A-Grade Investments is a venture capital fund founded by long-time friends Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle to opportunistically invest in technology start-up companies.

A-Grade Investments

OMERS Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm with offices in Toronto, Palo Alto and New York. Typically, we invest in Series A-C companies with a first cheque size between $5-25M. We focus primarily on four categories: horizontal SaaS, vertical SaaS, fintech and AI enablement.

OMERS Ventures

1440 Foundation’s mission is to support programs and best practices that cultivate authentic relationship skills in education, wellness and the workplace.  The value of education has long been widely acknowledged, and perhaps never more so than in this age of information and global connectivity, where education, knowledge, and the intellectual fitness they bring, make life better.  Throughout much of the world, the importance of physical fitness has become widely accepted as well. They know that they will live better if they exercise, eat right, sleep well, and make healthy choices in their everyday lives.  They seek to add to the focus on a fit mind and body the additional definition of “inner fitness,” meaning the awareness of the self inside that mind and body, and “relational fitness,” representing the life skills to build trusted relationships with others in authentic and meaningful ways. They define inner fitness as being self aware and having the self knowledge to make sound and informed decisions that enable us to be the best people they can be. With that foundation, they add relational fitness – the social awareness and the authentic relationship skills to offer support and strength to others, to listen deeply, and to enter into dialogue that unlocks the potential within each of us as individuals and community members.  This vision of inner and relational fitness defines the two wings of their purpose at 1440 – the belief that, with practice and support, they can build richer and more meaningful lives based on a commitment to fitness within, throughout, and across theirselves. They are excited by the further belief that this is not mystical or abstract, but achievable in very practical terms, teachable and realizable with support and practice. The importance of such whole person fitness is equal to the importance they ascribe to physical fitness today and, in their experience, it is easier to do!

1440 Foundation

Bridge Builder Collaborative aims to support social entrepreneurs focused on scalable applications, practices, products, and tools.

Bridge Builders Collaborative

At Lab IX, you'll get access to Flextronics' global end-to-end supply chain solutions and industry leading expertise in hardware design, manufacturing and logistics. You'll also benefit from their specialized partners on an unprecedented scale.  Lab IX impacts nearly every industry and help the world's best brands take their products to market all over the world with incredible speed.

Flex Lab IX

Export Development Canada (EDC) is a Crown corporation dedicated to assisting Canadian businesses of all sizes in achieving global success. It provides them with the tools they need to grow their business with confidence, including trade knowledge, financial solutions, equity, insurance, and connections.

Export Development Canada

Global Forward Capital is a multi-stage investment firm specializing in cybersecurity and global markets. Founded in 2017 as Trend Forward Capital, the firm was renamed in 2023 to reflect the expansion of the firm’s mission to include global private equity investments, the opening of headquarters in Singapore and the team’s unique experience in global cybersecurity markets.

Global Forward Capital

The mission at Build Ventures is to help founders build companies. Period. They provide early stage capital to emerging, game-changing Atlantic Canadian technology companies. Their team has deep operational and investment experience. The startup journey can be challenging, but they know what it takes and they are here to help.  They’re based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and are focused on companies in Atlantic Canada. They like to invest after your seed round. Ideally, you have begun to build a great team, have a product solving a meaningful problem and are working in what is – or one day will become -- a huge market.

Build Ventures

Epic Canadian Healthcare is a long-term fund focused on unique private Canadian healthcare companies generally unavailable

EPIC Capital

BDC Capital has been recognized locally and nationally as a leader and innovator in business lending and capital investment. Many of New England’s leading financial institutions invest in BDC to help promising companies expand. Over 60 years, we have invested more than $1 billion in thousands of companies in New England.

BDC Capital Corporation

Alabaster is a start-up investor in founders to help them grow breakthrough companies that will make a positive, planet-level impact.

Alabaster

Phyto Partners is playing a vital role in the Cannabis industry by providing capital to entrepreneurs and operating businesses that do not have access to traditional funding resources.  Phyto Partners will bring to bear its broad network of experienced business executives, financial experts, analysts, and advisors to assist portfolio companies with financing needs, operations and execution.  Our portfolio companies along with our partners will synergistically help to accelerate successful execution strategies in all areas of the Cannabis industry.

Phyto Partners

Xiamen Intretech Inc. was founded in May.2011, with 10 wholly owned or holding subsidiaries, such as Xiamen Intretech Automotive Electronics Co. Ltd., Xiamen UMS Information Technology Co. Ltd, Zhangzhou Insut Industry Co. Ltd., Xiamen Intreplus Co.Ltd., Intretech (Malaysia) Sdn.Bhd., Intretech Hungary Kft. The company now employs over 3700 staff members, including over 800 highly-qualified engineers and managers, equipped with enterprise technology center, research labs, robotic research center, meanwhile has also set up industry-university-research cooperation with several universities, such as Fuzhou University.

Intretech

Iter Investments is a venture capital firm that seeks to invest in companies operating in the mental health sector. It partners primarily with early-stage private companies operating across the psychedelic ecosystem. They assist entrepreneurs and management teams to build great companies that will transform the mental and behavioral health industry.

Iter Investments

The Clavis Foundation is a venture financing company that accelerates the success of its portfolio firms. They invest in seed-stage, early-stage, and later-stage firms.

The Clavis Foundation

Muse

Muse has developed brainwave-controlled computing technology and applications that converts brainwaves into digital signals. They have created a hardware and software platform technology that converts brainwaves into digital signals that are fed into a computer. InteraXon then provides consumers with applications that use these brainwaves to perform activities such as meditation, gaming, ADHD assistance, and many others to come. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

<div>Muse is the developer of Muse headbands, brainwave-sensing devices designed to help users meditate and sleep. The company’s Muse 2 headband uses biometric sensors to track brain waves, pulse, body movements, and breathing. The company offers its headband for the price of USD 199.99 for the hardware only and USD 224.98 for hardware plus a 1 year app subscription. The company also sells a Muse S package that features the Muse 2 headband as well as sleep sensors. This package is priced at USD 299.99 for the hardware alone and USD 304.98 for the hardware and 1 year app subscription.</div>

A new industry proving that digital connectivity and mental health can co-exist.

Digital Wellness

Muse is a Canadian company that manufactures brain-sensing headbands designed to enhance meditation and sleep. Their flagship product, the Muse S (Gen 2), is a wearable device that uses EEG (electroencephalography) technology to measure brain activity, heart rate, breathing patterns, and body movements during meditation and sleep. The headband provides real-time biofeedback through immersive audio cues, guiding users to achieve a calm and focused state during meditation or to fall asleep more easily.

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<div>
 
 Muse is the developer of Muse headbands, brainwave-sensing devices designed to help users meditate and sleep. The company’s Muse 2 headband uses biometric sensors to track brain waves, pulse, body movements, and breathing. The company offers its headband for the price of USD 199.99 for the hardware only and USD 224.98 for hardware plus a 1 year app subscription. The company also sells a Muse S package that features the Muse 2 headband as well as sleep sensors. This package is priced at USD 299.99 for the hardware alone and USD 304.98 for the hardware and 1 year app subscription.
 
 
 
 
 In July 2018, Muse acquired Meditation Studio, a guided meditation app with over 70 teachers creating original content focused on alleviating stress, anxiety, and insomnia. Meditation Studio offers limited and basic content for free, and offers premium content such as monthly lessons on gratitude, leadership, sleep, stress, and anxiety management, and features such as night mode and playlists for USD 7.99 per month or USD 49.99 per year. As a part of the acquisition, Meditation Studio’s content was made available to Muse headband users. 
 
 
 
 
 In August 2022, the company, through its parent company Interaxon, raised USD 9.5 million in a Series C funding round led by BDC Capital, Alabaster, Export Development Canada. The funds were set aside to develop an integrated wellness membership model into its platform and carry out product development-related research on longitudinal tracking for changes in the brain. The company also planned to use the funds to expand its platform to third parties and invest in partnerships. 
 
</div>

Headspace is a digital wellness company that delivers meditation programs through a smartphone app. The company was founded by Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk, and Richard Pierson, a marketing and brand development professional. In addition to meditation, Headspace offers stress management programs, mindfulness activities, and sleep therapy solutions. Headspace also operates a business-to-business (B2B) focused “Headspace for Work” program with around 1,600 corporate customers as of January 2021, which has seen around 3x growth during 2020. Further, the company operates “Headspace for Health,” a program that develops US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved meditation tools to treat chronic diseases.As of January 2023, the company has over 100 million users across 190 countries, with its brands “Headspace for Work” and “Ginger” being used by over 4,000 enterprises including Starbucks, Adobe, Delta Air Lines, Mattel, and Paramount. The company also partners with a health plans, such as Cigna, to provide its services.In January 2022, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7781">acquired Sayana </a>, an AI-powered mental health provider which helps employees manage stress and anxiety, improve sleep and increase productivity. The acquisition was carried out to expand Headspace's services to provide personalized self-care to its users.In June 2022, the company launched a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11145">new training program for senior leaders </a>and managers to support mental well-being in the workplace.In September 2022, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12918">acquired fellow mindfulness platform Shine </a>for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition enhanced Headspace Health’s offerings by supporting inclusiveness and diversity while also growing Headspace’s member base. Select content from Shine was earmarked to be added to Headspace Health’s content library.In November 2022, the company launched a new platform that combines its product offerings with mental health platform Ginger’s <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5119">an entity it merged with in August 2021 </a>. The platform combines Headspace Health’s meditation and mindfulness services with Ginger’s on-demand coaching, therapy, and psychiatry services, to offer enterprise clients an integrated solution for supporting their employees.In January 2023, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16052">expanded its geographical reach </a>to offer coaching, therapy, and employee assistance-related services to UK headquartered enterprise clients. The company stated it plans on continuing this international expansion into other countries throughout 2023 but did not mentioned specifics.In April 2024, Headspace <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28767">introduced a new mental health coaching service </a>that offered one-on-one support in tackling a wide range of life challenges. The service was available to its direct-to-consumer subscribers at a rate of USD 99.99 per month. The company claimed the experts had been trained to help individuals set realistic goals, initiate new habits, and motivate change while providing them full responsibility for their achievement.In July 2024, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/31551">announced that Tom Pickett will be its new CEO</a> and member of the company's board of directors, effective August 12, 2024.Key customers and partnershipsIn June 2023, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19771">extended its partnership with with employee benefit management platform provider Virgin Pulse </a>to integrate its platform with Virgin Pulse’s platform. This integration enables employees enrolled in Virgin Pulse’s health benefit offerings to access the full suite of Headspace’s offerings as a part of Virgin Pulse’s Homebase for Health platform.In March 2024, Headspace <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27330">partnered with Meta </a>to launch "Headspace XR," available for an upfront fee of USD 30. Headspace XR provides guided mindfulness and meditation exercises led by the same instructors familiar to regular Headspace users. The exercises cover activities such as breathing techniques, body scans, and mood tracking. Additionally, it incorporates a social element, including interactive metaverse-style gaming in vivid environments.In June 2024, Headspace <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/30378">partnered with Uwill</a>, a mental health platform for colleges and students, to integrate Headspace's wellness services into Uwill's existing portal. The collaborative effort will allow Uwill's Urise program to incorporate Headspace's services, primarily meditation, yoga, and mindfulness offerings.Most recently, in August 2024, Headspace <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21452">partnered with Castell</a>, a value-based care (VBC) subsidiary of Intermountain Healthcare, to offer mental health services to members of select insurance plans in Utah. The partnership aimed to improve health outcomes by providing personalized mental healthcare to members. Through the partnership, Castell began refering eligible members to Headspace for behavioral health coaching and therapy, giving them access to a team of coaches and licensed therapists through an outcomes-based payment model.

Headspace

<div>
 
 Calm is a digital wellness company which offers guided meditations to make people happy as well as mindfulness and sleep programs through a smartphone app. Its audio content is designed to strengthen mental fitness and address mental health challenges such as stress, anxiety, insomnia, and depression. The company started out as a website in 2011 where users were trained to stare at a screen and listen to waves on a beach for two minutes without touching their mouse. In February 2013, more content was added and the company launched a mobile app. Calm was named by Apple as the 2017 iPhone App of the Year and received Editors' Choice certification by Google in 2018. Calm offers content in English, Spanish, French, and German and operates Calm Business, a business-to-business (B2B) covering over 10 million employees as of March 2022. 
 
 
 
 
 Calm gained significant traction in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdowns. It became the most downloaded digital wellness app during April 2020 with 3.9 million downloads worldwide, including 1.6 million downloads in the US. Kaiser Permanente, a large managed care service provider, provided Calm free for its 12.4 million members in May 2019. Calm also partnered with CNN on the 2020 US presidential election day to play the sound of rain hitting leaves on air, a marketing effort that went viral on social media.
 
 
 As of December 2020, Calm has reported over 100 million app downloads (compared with over 40 million in early 2019 and over 80 million as of May 2020) and was valued at USD 2 billion. 
 
 
 In October 2022, the company 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13853">
 launched a new clinical mental health offering
 </a>
 called &ldquo;Calm Health,&rdquo; marking its expansion into the mental health space. The new solution provides condition-specific programs designed to bridge mental and physical care and includes tools for communication with providers and medication tracking. This solution was created for the company by Ripple Health, which was 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8246">
 acquired by Calm
 </a>
 in February 2022. 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 As of December 2022, the company has partnered with over 20 brands to collaborate and provide its services through sales partnerships. These brands include Xbox, Amazon, YouTube, Adidas, Fitbit, and American Express. 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In December 2020, Calm raised USD 75 million in a series C funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners doubling it&rsquo;s valuation to USD 2.0 billion. Calm planned to use the funding to expand operations globally and broaden its B2B offerings.
 
</div>

Calm

<div>
 
 Simple Habit is a guided meditation service provider, which offers bite sized, five-minute long meditation sessions through an app targeting people with busy schedules. The company also offers mindfulness, sleep, and wellness programs. As of November 2020, Simple Habit offered over 2,000 sessions designed to help users sleep, reduce anxiety, and get over relationship issues. The content is organized by occasion, such as commuting, going to sleep or preparing for a meeting. 
 
 
 In June 2022 the company launched its Sleep Habit app, a virtual sleep clinic that helps users improve the quality of their sleep. The app uses clinically validated approaches to improve sleep quality and treat issues such as insomnia via methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy. 
 
 
 As of September 2022, Simple Habit claims to have a 7 million users between both of its apps. 
 
 
 
 
 In November 2018, Simple Habit raised USD 10 million in a Series A round led by Foundation Capital, bringing the company’s total funding to USD 12.6 million. The company used the funds to expand its library of guided meditation sessions and to add audio content led by therapists and executive coaches. As of late 2018, the app was reported to sign up as many as 30,000 new users per week. As of November 2020, Simple Habit reported having helped helped over five million people reduce burnout through its app’s services.
 
</div>

Simple Habit

<div>
 
 Insight Timer is a company which offers guided meditation, yoga, and sleep programs through a smartphone app. It also offers free interactive live sessions with teachers, performers, and therapists through the app and web. The company’s business-to-business (B2B) offering, “Circles for teams”, targets enterprise customers to help bring employees together to practice group meditations, chat with each other, and recommend content. In October 2020, Insight Timer began offering free, daily live yoga classes from instructors based on a pay-what-you-can model.
 
 
 
 
 As of October 2020, Insight Timer featured around 8,000 meditation teachers providing over 70,000 free tracks on guided meditations in 50 languages as well as 5,000 music tracks. The company has also claimed that it ranks first in the US among meditation apps in terms of the time spent by users with Insight Timer boasting 63% of the time spent on meditation apps as of 2018.
 
 
 
 
 The majority of the content is available for free, and users can sign up for a premium version at a price of USD 9.99 per month or USD 59.99 per year. Premium users get access to content such as Insight courses and the ability to download content.
 
 
 
 
 In January 2020, the company raised USD 27.4 million. As of November 2020, the monthly operating cost of the company is reported to be around USD 1 million and Insight Timer has failed to break even as of the end of 2020. The founder attributes the significant growth of the company to its free content and has advocated against moving too much of its content behind the premium subscription paywall. As of November 2020, the app had a 16% 30-day retention rate, more than double the average retention rate of 7.7% for top 100 apps in Apple’s App Store. As of November 2021, the company has 19 million users. 
 
</div>

Insight Timer

<div>
 
 Big Sky Health is the developer of the Oak Meditation breathing app. Oak Meditation offers guided and unguided meditations, sleep meditations, meditation timers, yogic exercises for breathing, animated instructions, and music tracks. The company is headed by Mike Maser, an entrepreneur who was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. Most of the companies services are offered free of charge with in-app purchases ranging from USD 5.99 to USD 38.99.
 
 
 
 
 In addition to Oak meditation, Big Sky also offers a fasting app called Zero and an alcohol moderation app called Less. In May 2020, Big Sky raised USD 8 million in Series A funding in a round led by Greycroft with participation from existing investors True Ventures and Trinity Ventures, bringing the company’s total funding to USD 12.2 million. Big Sky Health expects to use the funds to expand its staff and boost customer acquisition.
 
</div>

Big Sky Health

Apps that provide relaxation, stress reduction and non-therapeutic mental health support via meditation-related techniques.

These apps aim to increase users’ body and brain functions including memory and attention to detail with microlearning, gamification, and journaling techniques.

Helps users analyze and address sleep disorders with wearable tech, music and sound therapy, and storytelling.

Apps that provide virtual training programs, track workouts, and provide guides for nutrition.

Some digital wellness providers provider VR/AR experiences for meditations

Some companies offer personalized care/meditation plans, workout regimens, or treatments for sleep disorders

Offers app-based platforms that improve health and wellness

Muse is a Canadian company that manufactures brain-sensing headbands designed to enhance meditation and sleep. Their flagship product, the Muse S (Gen 2), is a wearable device that uses EEG (electroencephalography) technology to measure brain activity, heart rate, breathing patterns, and body movements during meditation and sleep. The headband provides real-time biofeedback through immersive audio cues, guiding users to achieve a calm and focused state during meditation or to fall asleep more easily.
The Muse S features sensors that detect brainwaves, heart rate, and breathing patterns, along with an accelerometer and gyroscope to track body movements. During meditation sessions, the headband translates the user's mental activity into guiding sounds, such as storms or peaceful weather, to help them maintain focus and calmness. If the user's mind wanders, the audio cues become more intense, prompting them to refocus.
For sleep tracking, the Muse S incorporates "Digital Sleeping Pills" (DSPs), which modulate audio cues based on the user's brain rhythms to facilitate relaxation and uninterrupted sleep. The accompanying Muse app provides detailed insights into sleep stages, duration, and quality, along with a sleep score and guidance for improving sleep habits.
Muse's products are designed to be comfortable and user-friendly, with rechargeable batteries and wireless connectivity. The company offers a premium subscription service that provides access to a vast library of guided meditations, sleep programs, and integration with third-party apps.

Neuralink is a neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk with the goal of developing brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The company's flagship product is the N1 Implant, a coin-sized device that is surgically implanted in the brain. The implant contains 1,024 electrodes distributed across 64 ultra-thin threads that can monitor neural activity and electrically stimulate the brain. It wirelessly transmits brain data to external devices, allowing users to control computers or mobile devices directly with their thoughts.
Neuralink's initial focus is on providing digital freedom for people with quadriplegia by enabling them to interact with technology using neural signals. The N1 Implant will be placed in the motor cortex region of the brain that controls movement intention. As of March 2024, Neuralink has implanted its device in at least one human participant, allowing them to control a computer mouse cursor and play video games purely by thinking.
The implant surgery is performed using a custom robotic system developed by Neuralink. This surgical robot automatically inserts the electrode threads into the desired brain region with high precision. Neuralink claims the robotic implantation process aims to be as minimally invasive as procedures like LASIK eye surgery.
Key customers and partnerships
In November 2023, Neuralink announced its first clinical trial, dubbed the "Prime Study," to evaluate the N1 Implant's safety and functionality in human participants with quadriplegia caused by cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study is expected to enroll participants aged 22 and older over a period of six years.
Neuralink has previously collaborated with the University of California, Davis to conduct animal testing of its brain implants on monkeys and other research animals. However, this partnership ended in 2020 amid allegations from an animal rights group regarding the treatment of monkeys during experiments.

Neuralink

Kernel is a neurotechnology company developing non-invasive brain imaging devices. Their flagship product, Kernel Flow, is a wearable headset that uses time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS) technology to measure brain activity. Kernel Flow emits near-infrared light and detects changes in blood oxygenation levels in the brain's cortical areas, similar to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, it offers advantages such as portability, affordability, and the ability to measure brain activity in natural environments.
Kernel Flow features 52 modules arranged in four plates that fit on either side of the head. Each module contains two laser sources that generate picosecond pulses of light and six detectors that capture the reflected light. By recording the photon arrival times, the system can measure changes in oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations, providing insights into brain function.
Kernel has conducted studies demonstrating the efficacy of Kernel Flow in various applications, including measuring the psychedelic effects of ketamine, predicting gaming expertise, and assessing cognitive decline. As of January 2022, the company had provided 50 systems to partners for evaluation and launched commercial sales for research teams.

Kernel

Synchron is a neurotechnology company developing an implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) system designed to enable patients with severe paralysis to wirelessly control digital devices through their thoughts and improve functional independence. Their flagship technology, the Stentrode, is an endovascular brain implant that is inserted into the brain's motor cortex via the jugular vein using a minimally invasive endovascular procedure, eliminating the need for open brain surgery.
The Stentrode contains electrodes that detect motor intent signals from the brain, which are wirelessly transmitted to an external device. Using machine learning algorithms and signal processing techniques, these neural signals are then translated into digital commands, allowing the user to control personal devices like computers and smartphones for tasks such as texting, emailing, online shopping, and accessing telehealth services.
In August 2020, Synchron received FDA Breakthrough Device designation, followed by the first Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) in July 2021 for evaluating a permanently implanted BCI. The company has conducted clinical trials in Australia and the US, with the first US implantation occurring in July 2022 at Mount Sinai Health System in New York. As of January 2023, Synchron reported that the Stentrode remained safe and functional in four Australian patients after 12 months, with no serious adverse events or significant signal deterioration.

Synchron

Paradromics is an Austin, Texas-based neurotechnology company developing a high data-rate brain-computer interface (BCI) called the Connexus Direct Data Interface (DDI). The Connexus DDI is designed to collect an unprecedented number of individual neural signals from the brain using a fully implantable device intended for long-term daily use.
The first application of the Connexus DDI is an assistive communication device that translates brain signals into speech and movement in real-time. This revolutionary technology aims to restore the ability to communicate and interact with technology independently for people with conditions like ALS, spinal cord injuries, and stroke that cause severe motor impairment.
In May 2023, Paradromics raised USD 33 million in a Series A funding round led by Prime Movers Lab, with participation from Westcott Investment Group, Dolby Family Ventures, and Green Sands Equity. This investment will enable the company to launch its first-in-human clinical trial for the Connexus DDI.
Additionally, in a significant milestone, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the Connexus DDI a Breakthrough Device Designation in May 2023. This designation recognizes the transformative potential of the device and allows for an expedited review process, accelerating its availability to patients.

Paradromics

Cognixion is a leading developer of non-invasive Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Their flagship product, the Cognixion ONE Axon, utilizes electroencephalogram (EEG) technology to provide a non-invasive brain-computer interface. It enables patients with advanced disease progression, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Motor Neuron Disease (MND), traumatic injuries, and cerebral palsy, to communicate their responses with their thoughts and mental attention in a wearable, augmented reality headset.
The Cognixion ONE Axon integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI), including GPT large language models, to rapidly support the user's communication intentions and desired outcomes. It provides contextual predictions and suggestions that can be quickly selected and communicated audibly and visually on the front visor as a communication aid. The device aims to become the first FDA-cleared device allowing fully paralyzed or locked-in patients to communicate via a non-invasive brain-computer interface once eye-tracking is no longer usable due to ocular motor decline.
Cognixion's technology combines AI, Augmented Reality, and Assistive Technology, designed to help people with severe motor impairments communicate and interact more effectively and independently with the world around them. Unlike invasive BCI technologies, Cognixion's device can be prescribed and utilized without surgical procedures or significant training, providing a new level of independence and autonomy.
Key customers and partnerships
In May 2023, the Cognixion ONE Axon received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Breakthrough Device designation, which will streamline its development and validation process with prioritized feedback from FDA review staff. This designation is awarded to devices that demonstrate the potential to provide more effective treatment for life-threatening or debilitating conditions where no clear alternatives exist.

Cognixion

Non-invasive hardware typically involving wearable devices that can record, monitor and interact with brain activity using methods like electroencephalography (EEG), enabling the control of prosthetic limbs, operating computers, and more

Physical devices implanted in the body, often in the brain, to interface with neural signals such as electrodes or neural implants

Companies that offer software platforms for BCI applications, including cloud platforms that enables neural data storage

Companies that gather, store, analyze, and interpret neural data collected via BCIs in order to generate valuable insights for clinical decision making

Most BCI companies personalize the BCI devices based on the patient's condition and goals

Most BCI companies leverage a digital means of extracting and interpreting neural data, some of which use mobile applications to provide insights

The products/platforms offered by most companies utilize AI/ML in enhancing their offering

Muse

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