The firm behind a platform for in-home tracking of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and depression has raised a £1.1m.
BrainWaveBank’s platform combines a wireless dry electroencephalography (EEG) headset with a growing suite of gamified neurocognitive tests played on a mobile tablet.
The system enables repeated measurement of neurological and cognitive parameters, unsupervised in the home.
These objective longitudinal measurements provide information on the progression of diseases and direct therapeutic effects of drugs to help reduce the timescales, risks and costs of developing new treatments.
The new financing round was led by Par Equity and supported by current investors Techstart Ventures, Co-Fund II managed by Clarendon Fund Managers, Angel CoFund, and new investment from British Business Investments. This is the second investment that Par Equity has made in BrainWaveBank.
The investment will be used by Belfast-based BrainWaveBank to further develop its technology, to scale its commercial activities, and to roll the platform out into the global clinical trials market.
The firm reports it has secured a number of contracts with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to use the platform for the evaluation of cognition in patients and to gain insights into the mechanistic effects of drugs in early stage clinical evaluations of new therapies for Alzheimer’s and psychiatric conditions.
In addition to this latest equity investment, the Company has secured significant R&D grant support from Invest Northern Ireland and Innovate UK.
This includes a grant to accelerate development of patient-centric elements of the platform that will enable continued data collection in the home and provide a solution for the most vulnerable populations during the working restrictions of COVID-19.
Ronan Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer of BrainWaveBank, commented: “We are delighted to continue working with Par Equity who have been very supportive of our company and our vision.
“This investment will enable us to continue to develop and commercialise our cutting-edge technology that addresses a major unmet need in the development of novel therapies that can significantly reduce costs of care and improve patient outcomes for millions of people worldwide.”
Robert Higginson, Partner at Par Equity, commented: “We are excited to lead this latest round of investment into BrainWaveBank. We have every confidence that their ground-breaking platform will be core to the future development of drugs for dementia and other neurological brain disorders by enabling clinical trials that can largely be conducted in patients’ homes. This is an enormous opportunity. HealthTech is a sector of growing importance to Par in which BrainWaveBank is our seventh investment and our third in Northern Ireland which was also home to PathXL for which we achieved a lucrative exit to Philips. They have an excellent, highly experienced team and their founders – CEO Ronan Cunningham and CTO Brian Murphy – are valued mentors for our thriving and diverse community of future HealthTech champions.”
Tim Mills, Managing Partner, Angel CoFund, commented: “The pioneering technology BrainWaveBank has created provides an understanding of neural health that has never been possible before, and as such has the potential to open new avenues of development for life transforming therapeutics. This next round speaks to the scaling potential of the company and will enable wider adoption of the platform across life-sciences. We look forward to seeing BrainWaveBank continue to bring its vision to life.”