Elemind: AI-powered Neuro-tech device to improve brain health.
Issue #4
The Context
The global mental well-being drugs market is projected to reach at a market value of US$58.91 billion by 2031.
Chemical drugs affect the entire body, often leading to unwanted side effects.They treat the symptom not the cause.
In cases where they do treat the cause, they often fail to isolate its application.
They are invasive to the human body & have the potential to be addictive.
Today’s company helps enhance mental health by reading brainwaves to fix sleep disorders, long-term pain, tremors, mental illnesses & to speed up cognition.
The TL;DR
Elemind is a wearable device that changes brain behavior by reading & intercepting brain waves in real time via neuro-stimulation.
Neuro-stimulation is the process of purposefully modulating the central nervous system’s activity via transcranially applied electric currents or magnetic fields.
We can measure brain activity via brainwaves. A brainwave is a biological oscillation and different brain states are characterized by different frequencies of brainwaves (alpha, beta, theta, gamma). If you're alert, it's going to be alpha waves. If you're sleepy, it's going to be theta waves. Each wave has a separate frequency.
By exposing brainwaves to neuro-stimulus, Elemind can speed up or slow down certain frequencies, amplify or suppress them. This changes the brain states. The implications are incredible - a person who has an anxious brainwave frequency can be moved to a calmer brainwave frequency via neuro-stimulation.
Clinical trials show the Elemind’s wearable device can:
accelerate sleep up to 70% faster
reduce tremors in patients with physiological shaking up to 50%
boost learning rates.
Elemind is the only company in the world that is able to precisely guide & redirect brainwaves in real-time.
It is the only company to figure out how to predict what brain waves will come through your head, like whether you might feel a brain tremor via its patented biosensors.
Elemind has also figured out the exact stimulus to apply so as to counter the brain waves.
If this was not impressive enough, Elemind is adding an AI/ML layer on top. AI is a big part of Elemind’s solution which will help detect and diagnose issues in real-time for long-term wearers, as well learn how to achieve optimum states of brainwaves faster over time.
Since each brain has a unique chemistry, this will enable the AI to diagnose and predict issues before they actually occur.
Elemind constantly monitors brain activity & over time, the AI will be able to learn what kind of stimulation protocol will lead to the best outcome for the individual.
This drug-free & non-invasive approach called electric medicine can change behavior on a more fundamental level and do it more intelligently than traditional pharmaceuticals.
“Elemind’s AI-enhanced neurotech wearable represents the latest advancements in the industry. The team has made significant progress towards its vision, and I’m excited about what’s to come in 2024 - Eric Torenberg, Village Global
The Bullet Points:
Industry : Neuro-tech
Headquarters : Massachusetts
Year Founded: 2019
Investors : Village Global, LDV Partners, Wharton’s Alumni Angel fund, E14 Fund, Embark Ventures
Amount raised : $12 million
Employee Count : 13
Key Opportunities
Big Market - The mental health market is expected to reach $537 billion USD. 26% of women and 19.6% of men in the US reported to have suffer from some kind of mental illness.
Riding the mainstream wave - The prominence of Neuralink, Oura rings, Prophetic AI are signalling it is only a matter of time before neuro-tech / health-tech becomes mainstream, meaning Elemind is well-positioned to ride this wave. The timing is right.
High adoption in hardware-tech : This is incidental but the increased adoption of hardware tech like Apple Vision pro & AR/XR simulated environments is a strong signal that people will be more comfortable wearing hardware.
Potential Risks
Skepticism - This will be the biggest barrier to overcome imo. Traditionally, people are averse to experimenting with stuff that interferes with the brain. Educating users on the benefits and safety of the device needs to be priority numero uno for Edelmind.
Comfort : How comfortable is the device to wear, this enters into the material-side of things but this is something any wearable hardware-tech company has to think of. Luckily, a lot of companies have already figured this out so no need to reinvent the wheel here.
Practical Feasibility : How practical is it on a daily basis? How often do I have to wear it to see results and for the AI to pick up sufficient data? Do I have to wear it in public? These questions need to be answered by Elemind and more importantly be communicated to the customer.
Founder Profile:
Meredith Perry, Co-Founder, CEO - She is a former NASA employee having worked in the astrobiology department. She was the CEO of uMind, a product that wirelessly transmits electricity through the air to charge electronic gadgets remotely. She also serves on the board of J Craig Venter Institute.
Dr. Ed Boyden, Co-Founder - Has served as a neurotechnology professor at MIT for 17 years & Stanford Neuroscience PhD. Has co-founded TI Solutions AG, SynLife, Cognito Therapeutics and Expansion Technologies, and won the Breakthrough Prize.
Dr. Nir Grossman, PhD, Co-Founder - Is an 11-year neuroscience professor at Imperial College London and an MIT Research Fellow.
Dr. David Wang, Co-Founder, CTO - Has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from MIT. Previously he was co-founder and CTO of the NuVu Innovation School.
Dr. Heather Read, Co-Founder, Science Advisor - Is a 21-year behavioral neuroscience and biomedical engineering professor at the University of Connecticut.
Final Thoughts
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