Neurotech start-up Paradromics raises $20M to address brain-related disorders via next-gen brain-computer interfaces

Neu­ralink Com­peti­tor Rais­es $20 Mil­lion for Brain Implants (Bloomberg):

A com­peti­tor to Elon Musk’s Neu­ralink said it raised $20 mil­lion, enough to get it on track to intro­duce a new gen­er­a­tion of pow­er­ful and tiny elec­trodes to the human brain.

Paradromics Inc., found­ed in 2015 about a year ahead of Neu­ralink, is build­ing brain-com­put­er inter­faces that could help peo­ple with dis­or­ders rang­ing from paral­y­sis to speech impediments.

“Once you start to real­ize that the best way to describe the brain is through data, you start to reframe a lot of clas­si­cal­ly hard-to-treat con­di­tions,” said Matt Angle, chief exec­u­tive offi­cer of Paradromics. “What the brain real­ly is—it’s a data sys­tem.” For exam­ple, where a bio­log­i­cal approach to blind­ness might be to attempt to regrow the reti­na, his approach would be to get visu­al data to the right part of the brain, even if it means using a com­put­er … Paradromics’ tech­nol­o­gy builds on decades of research and work by ini­tia­tives such as Brain­Gate, and is one sev­er­al com­pa­nies in the field. So far this year, brain-machine inter­face star­tups have raised $132.8 mil­lion, accord­ing to Pitch­Book. That’s already one-third more than the sec­tor raised in all of last year, and by far the most since 2017, a year when Neu­ralink raised $107 million.

Paradromics said one of its advan­tages comes from the num­ber of electrodes—400—that sit on each of its mod­ules, more than on anal­o­gous devices. That will improve the qual­i­ty and quan­ti­ty of the data they can han­dle, the start­up said.

The Announcement:

Paradromics Rais­es $20MM in Seed Fund­ing Led by Prime Movers Lab to Advance Brain Com­put­er Inter­faces (press release)

Paradromics Inc., a lead­ing devel­op­er of high data rate Brain Com­put­er Inter­faces (BCI), announced today a $20 mil­lion seed fund­ing round led by Prime Movers Lab, includ­ing invest­ment from West­cott Invest­ment Group, Dol­by Fam­i­ly Ven­tures, Syn­er­gy Ven­tures, Pure­land Glob­al Ven­ture, IT-Farm, and Alpha Edison.

Paradromics’ first com­mer­cial prod­uct, the Con­nexus™ Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Device, will restore com­mu­ni­ca­tion for patients who have lost the abil­i­ty to speak due to severe paral­y­sis. Through this BCI, patients will be able to recon­nect with loved ones and achieve greater auton­o­my through use of a com­put­er. Paradromics will part­ner with lead­ing health­care com­pa­nies to devel­op nov­el ther­a­pies for brain-relat­ed dis­or­ders …  The cur­rent fund­ing round fol­lows $10M in ear­ly stage pri­vate fund­ing as well as $15M of pub­lic fund­ing from the Nation­al Insti­tutes of Health (NIH) and the Depart­ment of Defense (DARPA).

As part of the invest­ment from Prime Movers Lab, Part­ner Dr. Amy Kruse will be join­ing the Paradromics Board of Directors.

“Progress in neu­ro­science and micro­elec­tron­ics has been expo­nen­tial, and this is game-chang­ing tech­nol­o­gy that has impli­ca­tions well beyond the reha­bil­i­ta­tion mar­ket,” said Amy Kruse, Part­ner at Prime Movers Lab. “As a for­mer DARPA pro­gram man­ag­er, I am excit­ed to see this tech­nol­o­gy move out of the lab and into clin­i­cal applications.”

News in Context:

• Debate: Will brain-com­put­er inter­faces replace smart­phones and oth­er “medi­at­ing” devices?
• Ker­nel rais­es $53 mil­lion to ease access to rich neur­al data and mar­ket Neu­ro­science as a Ser­vice (NaaS)
• Elon Musk to pio­neer new Inner Space Fron­tier via Neu­ralink “neur­al lace” technology
• The Neu­ro­Gen­er­a­tion and Humankind’s Quest to Enhance the Brain
• 10 neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment and brain health
• Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy can improve our lives…if we first address these Pri­va­cy and Informed Con­sent issues