Face ID pioneer’s NeuroAI startup secures $52M
▼ Summary
– Hemispheric, a NeuroAI startup co-founded by a Face ID creator and a computational neuroscientist, exited stealth with $52M to make brain tests as routine as blood draws.
– Its AI model, Descartes, with 6 billion parameters trained on 250,000 hours of brain recordings, analyzes electrical signals from a 15-minute dry EEG headset to produce diagnostic numbers.
– The company targets conditions lacking objective measures—depression, PTSD, mild brain injury, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s—currently diagnosed via questionnaires.
– Hemispheric takes a non-invasive approach with a wearable EEG headset, contrasting with Neuralink’s surgical implants.
– The startup has shown Descartes to the FDA and plans US and Europe launches, backed by investors like Hanaco Ventures and Behance’s founder, amid a surge in AI health funding.
One of the engineers behind Apple’s Face ID is now tackling a far more complex challenge: decoding the human brain. His new venture, Hemispheric, has emerged from stealth with $52 million in funding, positioning itself as a NeuroAI company with an ambitious goal. The Tel Aviv-based startup envisions a future where a brain test is as routine and straightforward as a blood draw.
The leadership team brings an unusual blend of expertise. Hagai Lalazar, a computational neuroscientist, serves as chief executive. Gidi Littwin, the chief technology officer, co-founded RealFace and played a key role in inventing Face ID before contributing to the AI systems powering Apple’s Vision Pro.
Hemispheric’s core technology is a model named Descartes, which contains 6 billion parameters and was trained on 250,000 hours of brain recordings from over 100,000 individuals. The company claims this is one of the largest datasets of its kind ever assembled.
The testing process is designed to be non-invasive and quick. A patient wears a dry EEG headset for just 15 minutes while completing simple tasks on a phone, as reported by WIRED. Descartes then converts the brain’s electrical activity into quantifiable data that doctors can interpret and use for diagnosis.
The startup is targeting conditions that have long resisted objective measurement, including depression, PTSD, mild brain injury, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, these diagnoses rely heavily on subjective questionnaires and patient interviews.
This approach marks a clear departure from the most famous player in brain tech. Elon Musk’s Neuralink focuses on surgically implanted devices. Hemispheric, like China’s BrainCo, bets that the future of brain technology lies in wearable, non-surgical solutions rather than invasive implants.
The funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including Hanaco Ventures, Protocol Labs, L Catterton, and Scott Belsky, the founder of Behance.
The investment aligns with a broader surge of capital flowing into AI-driven healthcare. Neko Health recently raised $700 million for full-body scanning, Chai Discovery secured $400 million for AI-powered drug design, and a former OpenAI researcher launched a drug startup valued at $2 billion.
Hemispheric has already presented Descartes to the FDA and plans to launch in the United States and Europe. The challenges ahead are significant. Medical AI has faced setbacks in hospitals before, and a system guiding brain diagnoses will face intense scrutiny. For now, the company has substantial funding, a strong pedigree, and an audacious promise.
(Source: The Next Web)
