NeuraLight Emerges from Stealth with $5.5M to Digitize Neurological Evaluation and Care

By Aisha Malik

Published: October 28, 2021

NeuraLight, a startup focused on applying AI to advance drug development for neurological disorders, has launched from stealth with $5.5 million in seed funding. The company aims to revolutionize neurological evaluation and care by digitizing the process, making it more precise and accessible.

Company Background and Funding

NeuraLight was co-founded by Micha Breakstone, who previously co-founded and served as president of Chorus.ai, a company acquired by ZoomInfo for $575 million earlier in 2021. Breakstone now leads NeuraLight as CEO, alongside co-founder and CTO Edmund Benami. The seed funding round saw participation from investors including MSAD, Kli, Tuesday, Operator Partners, and VSC Ventures. Notable angel investors include Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, Clover Health CEO Vivek Garipalli, and Noam Solomon, CEO of Immunai.

Mission and Technology

With dual headquarters in Austin and Tel Aviv, NeuraLight's core mission is to assist individuals suffering from neurological disorders. The company's innovative platform leverages AI and machine learning to automatically extract microscopic eye movement measurements from videos. These measurements serve as reliable digital endpoints for assessing and predicting the progression of neurological conditions.

The platform utilizes AI to remove light and movement artifacts from videos, ensuring a more precise analysis. By extracting ocular metrics from this augmented video, NeuraLight can predict the progression of neurological disorders based on subtle eye movements. This data is then offered to pharmaceutical companies to improve their drug development processes for neurological conditions.

Impact on Drug Development

NeuraLight's technology is designed to accelerate clinical trials and increase the success rate of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Multiple Sclerosis. The platform's ability to function without dedicated hardware, relying instead on standard smartphone or webcam video, makes it highly adaptable for both clinical trials and remote patient monitoring.

By gathering de-identified data from a large patient base, NeuraLight intends to build the most extensive proprietary de-identified oculometric database. AI will be applied to this data to derive valuable insights.

Competitive Landscape and Differentiation

Breakstone highlights that NeuraLight faces limited competition, and existing competitors often require specialized hardware like eye-trackers and pupilometers. NeuraLight's key differentiator is its reliance on readily available technology, such as standard smartphones and webcams, making its solution more accessible and cost-effective.

The company has filed a provisional patent to protect its proprietary technology.

Market Opportunity and Vision

NeuraLight addresses a significant market need, as over 1 billion people worldwide suffer from neurological disorders. Current neurological evaluation methods are often subjective and rely on manual symptom examination, hindering effective drug development. NeuraLight's digital endpoints aim to provide objective, precise measurements.

Rivka Kretiman, NeuraLight's Chief Innovation Officer, emphasizes that digital endpoints are the future of neurology, providing the missing piece for effective and successful drug development in this field. The company seeks to establish a new standard of measurement for pharmaceutical companies' drug development pipelines.

Future Plans and Partnerships

The $5.5 million seed funding will be used to partner with pharmaceutical companies, aiming to reduce drug development costs and shorten time-to-market for new therapies. NeuraLight has already initiated measurements in Israel for Parkinson's disease and is collaborating with three undisclosed pharmaceutical companies.

Breakstone's vision is to transform neurology entirely, enabling the development of next-generation drugs. The company is focused on building an iconic organization that redefines neurological care assessment.

Scientific Advisory Board

NeuraLight's scientific advisory board will be led by Ruth Djaldetti, head of the movement disorder center at Rabin Medical Center in Israel. The board will also include Nobel Prize winner Alvin Roth, ex-Flatiron Health's CTO Gil Shklarski, and Pomelo Care CEO Marta Bralic Kerns, who will provide guidance on the company's scientific vision.

NeuraLight Emerges from Stealth with $5.5M to Digitize Neurological Evaluation and Care