Neurotrack Raises $21M in Series C Funding

PR Newswire

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Neurotrack, an innovative digital health company on a mission to transform the measurement and management of cognition and memory loss, today announced a $21 million Series C funding round led by existing investor Khosla Ventures, with new strategic investments from Dai-ichi Life and SOMPO Holdings, and participation from existing investors Sozo Ventures, Rethink Impact, and AME Cloud Partners. The new round brings the company's total funding to date to more than $50 million, which includes over $3.5M in grants from the National Institutes of Health and a fast-track grant worth up to $3.3 million from the National Institute on Aging.*

The new investment will be used to advance the company's mission to change how people manage their cognitive health, drive adoption of its Memory Health Program, and continue development and partnerships in global markets.

Neurotrack's Memory Health Program is a game-changer in the fight against Alzheimer's. With an estimated 50 million people around the world living with Alzheimer's today and more than 130 million expected by 2050, Neurotrack has identified a way to bring cognitive health tools to millions around the globe.

"As the global crisis around Alzheimer's continues to grow, the private sector is joining government and nonprofits to address the problem in their markets. In Japan, for example, traditional insurance companies are developing novel solutions that incorporate Neurotrack's products to advance better memory health among its population," said Elli Kaplan, Neurotrack Co-founder and CEO. "These partnerships are innovative models that we hope to replicate in other markets, enabling traditional insurance companies to create new markets while helping to address the Alzheimer's crisis. And now they're also investing in our company, so these companies have two ways of doing well by doing good."

Last year, Neurotrack joined forces with Dai-ichi Life, the second largest life insurance company in Japan, to make its novel products available to customers as part of its new dementia insurance product. And in the first part of 2019, SOMPO conducted a 16-week pilot with Neurotrack, where more than 550 of SOMPO's employees took Neurotrack's test and followed the Memory Health Program for four months. Neurotrack and SOMPO are now working to deepen and extend their partnership.

Through each Neurotrack partnership, Dai-ichi and SOMPO expect to give millions of people in Japan access to tools to both assess and manage their cognitive health.

"One can now feel empowered to test for potential memory decline given that Neurotrack's Memory Health Program, can help stave off cognitive decline. This fully integrated platform enables users to assess the state of their memory, reduce future risk for decline, and monitor progress in order to take better control of one's memory health. We combine these tools with deep analytics to further target and personalize, creating a very powerful precision medicine solution," said Kaplan. "Just as when you go on a diet, you use a scale to provide evidence that you're losing weight. Neurotrack now has the equivalent of both a scale to measure and the Memory Health Program for cognitive health. This is a game-changer for dementia risk."

With Japan's national efforts focused on reducing the number of people with dementia by 6% among people in their 70s by 2025, insurance giants like Dai-ichi and SOMPO are helping the world's largest aging population (20% total pop. age 65+) decrease prevalence. By 2025, the number of Alzheimer's patients in Japan is expected to rise to 13 million people.

"We are excited about the partnership between Neurotrack and Dai-ichi Life, and our joint continued dedication to lowering the growth rate of dementia in Japan," said Mr. Yasumasa Iwai, Executive Officer in Charge of Insurtech at Dai-ichi Life. "We believe in the power of Neurotrack's products which is why we are a customer and now an investor."

Alzheimer's is quickly becoming the greatest healthcare challenge of our generation, but its impact on communities around the world can be reduced by making tools for cognitive health better accessible. Neurotrack will harness learnings from its work in Japan to identify additional partnerships in international markets to address the Alzheimer's crisis, including the U.S. and China, which currently has the world's largest population of people with dementia.

"As a society, we're behind the curve in tackling the Alzheimer's pandemic. A majority of adults age 65 and over worldwide do not receive cognitive assessments on a regular basis, and without a cure or vaccine on the horizon, we're looking at a growth rate that will threaten communities around the world," said Samir Kaul, Founding General Partner at Khosla Ventures. "Managing one's cognitive health must be easier to do and begin earlier in life so that we can halt the disease's growth rate. And we believe Neurotrack has developed a platform that can deliver this on a global scale."

Results from a preliminary study of the digital therapeutic released last year, showed an average Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) index increase of 6%, with specific changes observed in immediate memory, language, and delayed memory improved cognitive function, after one year of engaging in Neurotrack's Memory Health Program. Based on 30 years of scientific research, it is the first fully integrated, clinically -validated platform that can assess a person's cognition through the company's proprietary Imprint^TM cognitive assessment -- which can predict conversion from healthy to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or MCI to Alzheimer's disease within 3 years at 89% accuracy, and within 6 years at 100% accuracy -- and help manage memory loss and decline over time.

"Neurotrack has built an incredible integrative platform that is transforming our battle with Alzheimer's," said Jenny Abramson, Founder & Managing Partner of Rethink Impact. "Elli's two decades of experience in the private sector and in government are helping her scale this solution to the millions of people suffering from cognitive decline around the world. We couldn't be more excited to continue to support Neurotrack, given both the financial opportunity and the impact they are already having on this critical disease."

* The company's scientific co-founders have raised over $3M in NIH grants to conduct research into its underlying technology, and in 2019, the company was the recipient of a fast-track grant worth up to $3.3 million from the National Institute on Aging.

About Neurotrack
Neurotrack is building the digital memory health platform of the future, giving people direct access to digital tools and technology to assess, preserve, and strengthen their memory health. The company was co-founded in 2012 by CEO Elli Kaplan, and leading neuroscientists and researchers Stuart Zola, PhD, Elizabeth Buffalo, PhD, and Cecelia Manzanares. It has published its data in five academic journals and authored one academic review paper, been named Best Health Company at SXSW and DEMO, and was a participant in the Rock Health Accelerator program. The company is based in Redwood City, CA. For more information visit www.neurotrack.com.

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