Neurotech Notables #24: Jan 2025
Freeze, Thaw, Trickle, Flood
Happy Friday, Readers 🌞
The last two weeks wraps a busy month in commercial neurotech, while kicking off another exciting year for brain and nervous system innovation.
Amidst growing public and private volatility, our field generally enjoys stability inside the convergence of global investment trends in AI, “deeptech,” and healthcare, but neurotech is not bulletproof, nor an island.
Deepseek’s decimation of previously unassailable confidence in American AI suggests that today’s massive investments don’t buy technical superiority. Take note, new BCI founders: As R&D breakthroughs democratize interface tech, and many players flood the circuit, fundraising will not get easier.
Longer term, Kip’s editorial from NANS also points out that federal funding decisions are a harbinger for future innovation. Rooted in technical excellence and rigorous safety, startup ideas in neurotech benefit greatly from public de-risking before private sector investments flow.
Fortunately, this edition kicks off with good tidings from our friends across the pond, led by ARIA, whose new funding is part of more than a quarter billion in fresh capital announced this last two weeks. That’s not including nearly 9 figures in new funding opportunities, to go with a half a dozen regulatory green lights, a trio of pharma approvals, new codes, products, M&A, and other deals; industry news & views, and cool charts worth a click.
Beyond that: Stay tuned for our 2024 Funding Snapshot. Don’t miss relevant opportunities and resources from Edition #23. Check out my brief Q&A with Joyance Partner’s Jun Deng on 2025 Outlook. Visit our Events page for fresh listings (and send me your events to add!).
Lastly: Do Hit Reply & connect to become a supporting ecosystem partner!🤝
NANS
TTP
At NANS? Visit booth 110 or book a visit to see what we’re working on.
See our in-house thin film electrodes for BCI
Watch a live demo of our wireless implant charging system
Meet the team – Hannah Claridge, Alon Greenenko, Alex Stokoe, and our elusive colleague ‘Bill’
Funding
ARIA funds 19 teams with £69m including Forest, Mint, Motif, BIOS, and more (ARIA)
This is inspiring! The degree of collaboration, the diversity of applications, and the scale of funding. More from ARIA here
Andreessen Horowitz Backs Eddie Chang’s New Startup, Echo Neurotechnologies, with “about $50m” (Bloomberg)
Neurobionics announces $5m raised in 2024: This MIT spinout wants to spool hair-thin fibers into patients’ brains (Tech Crunch | Company PR)
GT Medical Technologies Raises $37 Million in Series D to Advance the Expansion of GammaTile® in the U.S. for Patients with Operable Brain Tumors (PR Newswire)
Iotamotion grows install base to 25 Centers and Secures $6.4m Series B Funding to Accelerate Expansion in 2025 (Iotamotion, SEC)
Lindus Health raises $55M to ‘fix the broken clinical trial industry’ (TechCrunch)
Nobi Smart Lights Secures $37 Million in Oversubscribed Series B Funding (Nobi)
Nobi’s investment round was co-led by Angelini Ventures and Nexus NeuroTech Ventures, with support from Japanese investor 15th Rock, EQT Health Economics and EQT Dementia Fund, and PMV.
Resonant Link Medical Launches with $1.2m Series A to Power Better Health for All (PR Web)
Neuronoff Secures $5 Million in DOD and NIH Funding to Advance Minimally Invasive Neuromodulation Platform (PR Newswire)
Due Feb 27: Novel Artificial Intelligence Approaches to Advance Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular/Brain Health (American Heart Association)
A total of $12 million is available to fund three investigators / investigative teams proposing novel uses of Artificial Intelligence to revolutionize cardiovascular and cerebrovascular / brain health and health care delivery.
Virtue announces $55.75M Fund II, focused on “$1-2m for 25 companies over the next 3 years” (Virtue)
Mental Health Award: Leveraging longitudinal data to transform early intervention in mental health (Wellcome Trust)
New £9 UKRI proof-of-concept funding set to bolster innovation (UKRI)
Regulatory & Reimbursement
Saluda Medical Receives FDA Approval for First Automated Programming Platform in SCS (Biospace)
Nalu Expands MRI-Conditional Labeling for Peripheral Nerve Stimulation with FDA Clearance for Whole-Body MRI (BusinessWire)
CergenX announces FDA Breakthrough designation and acceptance into TAP program for neonatal brain health device (LinkedIn)
Oxford Brain Diagnostics Ltd receives FDA 510k clearance for novel MRI analysis software (LinkedIn)
Sara Brenner from CDRH named acting FDA commissioner (Medtech Dive)
AAVAA Devices Now CE Certified for European Market (EIN Presswire1)
Alt-Bionics gets HCPCS codes for Genesis Hand prosthetic (LinkedIn)
eNeura's SAVI Dual sTMS Neuromodulation Treatment Added to Recon Supply's Federal Supply Schedule Contract (PR Newswire)
MedRhythms earns Medicare codes for stroke gait impairment treatment (MassDevice)
I usually don’t cover pharma but here are a trio of brain/CNS approvals:
SPRAVATO® (esketamine) approved in the U.S. as the first and only monotherapy for adults with treatment-resistant depression (J&J)
Leqembi Maintenance Dosing Approved by the FDA (Practical Neurology)
Vertex Announces FDA Approval of JOURNAVX™ (suzetrigine), a First-in-Class Treatment for Adults With Moderate-to-Severe Acute Pain (Vertex)
Commercial
Medtronic links closed-loop pain device to improvements after 12 months (Medtronic)
Neuralink selects University of Miami Health System as the second site for the PRIME Study (LinkedIn)
HOPE Therapeutics™, Inc. and NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:NRXP) Execute Agreement for $27 Million Funding Transaction for HOPE Clinic Acquisition (PR Newswire)
“to be used to initiate a nationwide rollup of Interventional Psychiatry Clinics to treat patients with severe, suicidal depression and PTSD….HOPE anticipates building a best-in-class nationwide chain of facilities that combine treatment with ketamine and other psychedelic medications with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and recently FDA-approved Digital Therapeutics to best serve patients with life-threatening depression, PTSD, and related disorders…. The first $6.75 million tranche is committed by February 7, 2025, with the full $25 million committed on or before April 1, 2025.”
ONWARD Medical's ARC-EX System Now Available on US VA Online Procurement Platforms (ONWARD)
Flow Neuroscience launches with Neurotech Life in Spain (LinkedIn)
IDUN Technologies and Analog Devices Join Efforts to Unveil Brain-Sensing Earbuds at CES 2025 (audioXpress)
NAMSA acquires U.S. Medical Device Testing Operations of WuXi AppTec (LinkedIn)
Flow depression treatment now available as part of the Dr.Online mental health service (LinkedIn)
HITLAB and Vistim Labs Announce Partnership to Validate AI-powered Brain-Mapping Algorithm for Alzheimer’s Disease Monitoring (HITLAB)
Neurogen Biomarking Announces Collaboration with Linus Health Bringing Easy Access to Cutting-Edge Technology to Support Early Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia due to Alzheimer's Disease (BusinessWire)
Google buys part of HTC's Vive VR team for $250 million (Engadget)
NeuroSigma Announces Patent Application Protecting Use of Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation to Include Treatment of Dyslexia and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders (BioSpace)
Abyssinia Biosciences and Cordance Medical announce a partnership to explore the diagnostic and therapeutic utility of focused ultrasound technology in combination with soluble oligomer targeting mAbs (PR Newswire)
Neuronic launches new product, LIGHT helmet (Neuronic)
Stryker announces definitive agreement for the sale of its U.S. spinal implants business and plans to sell related international business (Globe Newswire)
NeuroBionics hires Ross Tsukashima as Head of Innovation (LinkedIn)
Corundum Neuroscience Appoints Itsik Francis as Head of Business Development (PR Newswire)
Neuronano AB hires Hari Subramanian as Vice President of Science, Medical and Business Development (LinkedIn)
Industry
JPM Recap of PE (Bailey Company)
CES Recap (Neurotech Pulse by Nexstem)
Samsung and Google are developing AR glasses together (The Verge)
Helius Medical Technologies, Inc. Announces Strong Enrollment of its Stroke Pivotal Study Exceeding Initial Target (Yahoo!)
Possibility Neurotechnologies selected as part of the 2025 Canada-Chicago Mentoring Program (C2MP) cohort (Possibility)
Synchron: Applying technology to neurological conditions could address global health challenges (WEF)
New Data Show Significant Pain Relief, Reduced Opioid Use, Decreased Patient Time and Cost Burdens with the ProsperaTM SCS System (PR Newswire)
Meet Kate Willis, VP of Commercialization at Neurovalens, Revolutionizing Women’s Sleep Health (Woman’s World)
Fast Followers in Obstructive Sleep Apnea (MedTechStrategist)
Tracking and Failure Analysis of Explanted Neuromodulation Devices (Neuromodulation)
Clinical validation confirms equivalence of Onera’s patch-based home PSG to in-lab testing (Onera)
Using fNIRS to explore neurocognitive aging: An interview with Dr. Claudia Gonzalez (Artinis)
Cordance Medical and EXACT Therapeutics Announce Early Encouraging Data in Brain Cancer Mice Model (PR Newswire)
Universal Brain Announces Publication of Groundbreaking Depression Research Using Multiple Event-Related Potentials (PR Newswire)
Transforming Mental Health through Precision Brain Mapping: Our Continued Investment in Ceretype Neuromedicine (LeafyTunnel)
Consensus review and considerations on TMS to treat depression: A comprehensive update endorsed by the National Network of Depression Centers, the Clinical TMS Society, and the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (Clinical Neurophysiology)
Science Corp. Aims to Plant Ideas in Brains with New Implant (Core Memory)
Breaking the box: Non-invasive brain stimulation opens new ways to study and treat the brain (Stanford)
A practical guide to transcranial ultrasonic stimulation from the IFCN-endorsed ITRUSST consortium (Clinical Neurophysiology)
Clarity Announces Positive Results from Phase 1 Clinical Study for Novel Alzheimer's Neuromodulation Treatment (Medrxiv)
Syntropic: Flickering white light stimulation at 60 Hz induces strong, widespread neural entrainment and synchrony in healthy subjects (BioRxiv)
Nyoxah: Multicentre study conducted across centres in the USA, Europe and Australia to assess the safety and effectiveness of a bilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation system for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea in adults (BMJ)
Meet the 2025 Brains Fellows (SpecTech)
State-of-the-Art Innovations in Digital Health Assessment and Digital Therapeutics for Brain Health: Analysis of 14 Global Leading Startups (Alex Lee)
📺NeurotechTV
The Magnetic Moment - Episode 1 - (Sonera)
Temporal Interference: The Future of Brain Stimulation with Nir Grossman (PsyMed)
2024: A Year in Review (Mullings Group)
Society
People With A.D.H.D. Are Likely to Die Significantly Earlier Than Their Peers, Study Finds (NYtimes | BJPsych)
Would You Pay $20,000 to Try to Live Longer? (NYTimes)
Neuroethics Magazine: Issue 01 (Neuroethics Society)
Public policies are needed to improve brain health (Circulation | AHA)
Can communication Brain-Computer Interfaces read minds? (Phenomenology & Cognitive Sciences)
The Financial Impact Of Cognitive Function On CEO Decision-Making (Forbes)
Brain Health Emerges As Top Priority At Davos (Forbes)
Economic Tax of not investing in brain capital (Kennedy Forum)
Sodexo and Social Impact Partners – A Global Brain Health Initiative Announce New White Paper Illuminating the Importance of Neuroprotective Nutrition for Brain Health (MorningStar)
Research
Next generation bioelectronic medicine: making the case for non-invasive closed-loop autonomic neuromodulation (Bioelectronic Medicine)
Thinking outside the box: Uncovering a novel approach to brainwave monitoring (Mayo Clinic)
researchers used more sensitive, research-grade equipment and custom algorithms to record a broader frequency range of brain cell activity that yielded higher resolution and more precise information on when and where brain cells were firing in patients during DBS surgery (paper)
Auditory brainstem responses as a biomarker for cognition (Communications Biology)
Cost-effectiveness analysis of deep brain stimulation versus treatment as usual for treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (Journal of Neurosurgery)
A high-performance brain–computer interface for finger decoding and quadcopter game control in an individual with paralysis (Nature)
Technical breakthroughs are nice…but in a world where Noland Arbaugh plays Mariokart at home, is this demo really that big of a deal?
Next generation bioelectronic medicine: making the case for non-invasive closed-loop autonomic neuromodulation (Bioelectronic Medicine)
Challenges and opportunities of acquiring cortical recordings for chronic adaptive deep brain stimulation (Nature)
Predictors of dropout from TMS for treatment resistant depression (TMS Journal)
