News is out today that Neurovigil (La Jolla, California), a company founded by Philip Low who developed a way to decode brain activity from single channel EEG, may have broken the record books for the largest first round of financing valuation, significantly beating out even the combined seed valuations of Google and Facebook.
Neurovigil is reporting that the round was led by an “American industrialist and technology visionary” and amounted to less than two percent of the company’s stock. Based on information from someone familiar with the deal, we suspect it is either Bill Gates, Sergey Brin (he does have a gene associated with Parkinson’s), Qualcomm’s Paul Jacobs, Larry Ellison, or perhaps even Steve Jobs.
Neurovigil’s technology is the first substantial breakthrough in really understanding the information within brain waves. At TEDMED 2009, Low demonstrated how the system can detect biomarkers of brain activity. The potential associated with understanding what the brain is doing is really incredible for medicine, psychology, entertainment, and all kinds of research, and the valuation of the investment, for the company’s common stock, clearly certifies that fact.
Here’s our interview with Philip Low at TEDMED 2009:
Press release: California Neurotechnology Startup NeuroVigil Closes First-Round Investment
Link: Neurovigil…
Flashbacks: Interview with Philip Low About Roche and NeuroVigil Partnership; Smarter Analysis of Brainwaves Opens New Doors for Scientists, Clinicians
