Cambridge-based BIOS Health, a company that claims to be a pioneer in the development of AI-driven precision medicine for the nervous system, announced on Thursday, June 22, that it has raised fresh funding in a venture round.
The funding amount has not been disclosed.
BIOS says it will use the funds and revenue growth to build market share.
Emil Hewage, co-founder of BIOS, says, “Investors are seeing the fundamental value of our technology combined with the once-in-a-generation chance to establish a market-leading precision medicine business for an entirely new type of health data – our neurome.”
“With similar potential as the first genome sequencing and editing businesses of the previous cycle, we are excited to be bringing our technology to leading clinicians and commercial partners, and are humbled by our investors’ conviction in BIOS, especially within the context of a volatile market,” adds Hewage.
Investors supporting BIOS
The investment came from tech-bio pioneers Selvedge Venture, XTX Ventures, AI-focused Real Ventures, and Silicon Valley pioneers Fifty Years and Y Combinator (W’17, where the BIOS founders were mentored by Sam Altman).
Oli Scott, Global Head of Treasury at XTX Markets, says, “With their deep industry knowledge, powerful ML-driven neural interface technology, and unique position in a market which will be key to the future of medicines – we are excited to be partnering with the BIOS team and look forward to supporting them on their journey.”
Global leaders in AI, biotech, healthcare, and neurotech also participated in this round.
They include former Chair of the NHS, Lord David Prior; founder of medtech unicorn CMR Surgical, Dr Mark Slack; global healthcare and biotech-focused hedge funds and other patient capital; and a syndicate of current and former senior executives from Genentech, Roche, Boston Scientific, Siemens, Bain and Goldman Sachs.
Lord David Prior says, “BIOS’ neural digital technology has the chance to make data-driven clinical trials cheaper, create better medicines with fewer side effects and alleviate the huge burden of chronic disease for healthcare systems.”
“Code the body can run”
To advance the developing bioelectronic and AI-driven drug development sectors, BIOS Health has developed a potent brain data and AI platform. The company claims that it has become a leader in the neurotech space.
BIOS Health uses data-driven insights from the nervous system to build neural digital therapies.
The human nervous system stores enormous amounts of data, and BIOS’ ability to precisely connect nerve activity to particular illnesses by identifying their neural biomarkers is a “game-changer” for precision medicine, says BIOS.
The company might pave the way for brand-new therapies for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and even brain disorders like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.
BIOS claims it is positioned to give the neural code, through which a new generation of medicines can be developed for millions suffering from chronic illnesses and enhance their quality of life.
The company was founded in 2015 by Cambridge University researchers Emil Hewage, a computational neuroscientist, and Oliver Armitage, a biomechanical engineer. BIOS team also comprises a wide range of experts from neuroscience, machine learning, software engineering, applied biomaterials, biotechnology and medicine.
Earlier this year, the NIH and a group of top medical institutions, including the University of Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic, and Stanford University, decided to use BIOS’ technology to power their large-scale initiative, REVEAL.
According to a statement from BIOS, the new NIH REVEAL programme, which will span three years and eight clinics worldwide, will be the biggest clinical investigation of human brain data ever conducted.
