CoMind receives $100m+ funding for clinical brain monitoring

UK neurotechnology company CoMind has secured 102.5 million USD (~77m GBP) in funding to advance regulatory approval of the company’s first product, CoMind One. The company says this is the first device with the potential to non-invasively and continuously monitor brain blood flow, brain pressure, and other critical physiological parameters in a single measurement.

For decades, doctors treating critically ill patients have been forced to compromise when monitoring the brain: use risky, expensive, highly invasive procedures that require drilling a hole into a patient’s skull, or rely on inaccurate non-invasive monitoring that can compromise treatment decisions. CoMind says it’s technology resolves this dilemma.

CoMind One uses a low-power laser to transmit light through the scalp and skull into the brain tissue. The reflected signal is then combined with a second laser beam to create an interference pattern that is highly sensitive to the state of the brain. CoMind One is designed to measure three key brain health indicators simultaneously: cerebral blood flow, cerebral autoregulation, and intracranial pressure – something that has never been possible before.

The technology also has the potential to measure cerebral oxygenation, cerebral metabolism and other critical physiological parameters. The company says the CoMind One will make this information about a patient’s brain health easily and continually available at the bed-side for the first time.

“The brain is our most important organ, but the monitoring of the brain at the bedside is totally inadequate and archaic,”said James Dacombe, CoMind’s founder and CEO. “CoMind’s products aim to give clinicians more information on the status of the brain to improve patient safety and outcomes.”

By capturing extensive neurological information through a single sensor, CoMind’s technology provides the hardware foundation to power future AI tools to analyse patterns, predict complications, and guide treatment decisions in real-time.

The latest funding round is led by Plural with participation from existing investors LocalGlobe and Angelini Ventures, and others. Plural partner Taavet Hinrikus will join CoMind’s board alongside experienced healthcare executives Dr. Michael Tarnoff, MD (former CEO of Tufts Medical Center and Chief Medical Officer of Medtronic), Chair of the Board Frank Fischer (medical device industry veteran and Chairman of Neuropace), and health and deep tech investor Julia Hawkins, General Partner, LocalGlobe and James Dacombe the Founder and CEO.

“This technology is poised to disrupt the standard of care for patients requiring brain monitoring,” said Dr. Michael Tarnoff, MD, a member of CoMind’s Board of Directors. “By providing non-invasive, continuous access to cerebral blood flow, cerebral autoregulation, and intracranial pressure, the company is creating the potential for important, new understanding of the complex physiology affecting these severely ill patients. And that creates the opportunity to lower costs, reduce risks and improve patient outcomes.”

Taavet Hinrikus, partner at Plural said: “The way we monitor the brain now means that only a fraction of the patients who would benefit from this kind of care can access it – and to do so, they need to undergo highly invasive and dangerous procedures.

“I believe CoMind will be the foundation for the next generation of brain monitoring, providing doctors access to better data on more patients and delivering better outcomes at lower cost. On top of its bleeding-edge technology and the scale of the problem CoMind is solving, James is a generational founder – his determination, relentless work ethic and rapid learning rate make him one of the most impressive founders I’ve ever met.”

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